


The Choices We Make

by Megand2017



Series: Elemental Storytime [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Anger, Danger, F/M, Love, Romance, Sex, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:00:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 65,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24370951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megand2017/pseuds/Megand2017
Summary: After spending the summer with Klaus, Alexis has to learn how to get back to normal and try and stay out of trouble, yeah right.
Relationships: Damon Salvatore/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Elemental Storytime [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759606
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. Happy Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> I only own my OC

P2c/1

_ Damon, _

_ If by some miracle you didn't just tear this up the second Kathrine gave it to you, then I need you to know how sorry I am. Believe me, no one thinks I'm more of a hypocrite than myself right now. Klaus gave me two options, my freedom or my humanity. Through this whole thing with the witches, freedom wasn't really something I had a whole lot of, can't miss something you never had. But my humanity and morality isn't something I'm quite ready to give up. _

_ I get it if you hate me for this but you're alive so that means I have an eternity to make it up to you, in the meantime try to keep the body count down. _

  
  


_ I love you, _

_ Pidge _

  
  


**Alexis's POV**

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the little bit of sun on my face. It was the first time in weeks that I'd gotten to just sit and enjoy being outside, hell enjoy anything really. Klaus and Stefan were off looking into the third name on our list, Ray Sutton. I had convinced the pin-head magical babysitter Klaus assigned me to put the barrier spell up just off the dingy little balcony.

By convinced I mean, I fed him my blood and threatened to snap his neck. Meaning he'd no longer be a witch and have a huge probability of being sired to me, thus useless to Klaus. So out of great fear for his life, here I sit enjoying a beautiful day in captivity.

Cate wrote her spell when there weren't seven billion-plus people in the world, 500 years ago this spell would have been perfect but now it meant looking for needles in a haystack. Klaus was getting impatient, Stefan even though the non-ripper moments were far and few now, was probably the only reason Klaus hadn't locked me in a box with the 5th dagger he  _ claimed _ to have. 

I didn't really care anymore, not about what happens to me, I was almost always alone, except for my witchy little shadow. I learned quickly they were not on my side. So for the last six weeks, it's been me, my thoughts and Cate's journals, bouncing from hotel to dark cabin in the woods working through a list of names with no locations. The last girl Hayley Marshall was like a ghost, lots of people had seen or heard of her but no one seemed to know where to find her. The full moon came and went and Klaus decided to move on. Which is what brings us here to Tennessee, part of me was praying that they found him, that this was the right guy. The faster that Klaus found a werewolf pack, the faster my job would be done, not that he'd actually let me leave, I'll probably owe Klaus for eternity.

I could hear him talking to Stefan in the hall, I quickly got up closing the door behind me, sitting on the bed opening one of the journals to a random page. The door swung open and Klaus stepped in looking smug, "Time for a field trip little witch." He picked up my jacket, throwing it on the bed. I looked from the jacket to him, unamused.

"I'm impressed, I really didn't believe you would keep this hissy fit up as long as you have." He stalked towards the bed, leaning his face down to mine, "Speak, witch."

_ Oh, believe me, you do not want to hear what I have to say. _

In a flash, Klaus's hand was on my throat. I didn't struggle, and I kept my face as blank as possible as my lungs begged for oxygen.  _ He can't kill me and he clearly needs me for something right now. _

"Motus," I croaked, as Klaus hit the wall, my babysitter from earlier trapped me in an aneurysm spell and I gripped at my head grinding my teeth together to keep from yelling out.

He let me out of the spell and Klaus was off the ground, "Get in the car." He growled. I crossed my arms, leaving the jacket on the bed and walked out without a second glance.

I sat in the back of the SUV watching the world go by, we turned down a dark dirt road. It was almost two miles since we left the highway before we came across an old white farmhouse all lit up, "You'll be getting us inside Alexis," he drove further down the road, parking off to the side.

"Use those hunter instincts of yours, get them to trust you and let you inside, we'll be by shortly." He held out the jacket I'd purposely left at the hotel.

I started down the road, slipping my jacket on, letting my hair down and messing it up a little, before I sprinted towards the house. I stopped a few yards away out of sight, a woman in her mid 20's walked out calling for what I assumed was a dog. It didn't take much to muster up some fake tears, at this point, I wasn't even sure they were fake. I walked out towards the house, "Oh thank God, I've been walking forever." I stopped a few feet away from the girl, "I'm having the shittiest luck tonight, my GPS got me lost out here and then I got a flat and for some reason I can't seem to get any service. Do you know anything about tires or maybe could I use your phone?" Lord, I sounded pathetic, I was rambling, probably because this was the first time I'd spoken more than spells in weeks.

"Of course honey, come on in. I'll grab you the phone." I followed her up the porch steps and into the house. It was cute, prints on the wall by the stairs, dollar store decor set up to make this place look like a Better Homes and Gardens ad. I could hear someone else in the house, I didn't have time to investigate because the young woman from outside walked back into the hall, "Here you go." She held out a cordless handset and I took it grabbing her wrist and locking my eyes with hers, "There's a man on the porch, you're going to invite him in and do whatever he says ok."

"I'll do whatever he says," she replied and turned to open the door. Klaus stood smiling on the other side. "You can come in." The woman said pushing open the screen door. Klaus stepped over the threshold and into the hall. The other person in the house called out, "Sarah is everything alright?"

_ Sarah, the too helpful girl's name was Sarah. _

Klaus narrowed his eyes at me and I looked at Sarah, "Everything's fine." I whispered.

"Everything's fine, Mary," Sarah replied.

_ Sarah and Mary, great now they had names. _

Stefan stepped up onto the porch and Klaus asked Sarah to invite him in, which she did quickly, "Your job is done little witch, wait outside." I walked out brushing past Stefan and sat out on the bottom steps. There was some knocking around and a short conversation I didn't feel like listening in on. Those girls were not getting out alive and they would be two more names on my guilt list.

Klaus stepped out and walked down the stairs, "Follow me," was all he said as we started walking in the opposite, direction of the car. He stopped in the middle of a field about a hundred yards from the house, "Stefan tells me it's your birthday tomorrow."

I let out a short laugh but didn't actually say anything.

"When I first heard an Elemental had popped up as the doppelganger's twin I was sure it was Cate, that she had somehow managed to weasel her way back from the other side. It took all of one conversation to know that wasn't true."

_ We get three chances at life you would think that would be enough. _

"Less than one conversation actually and I knew that wasn't the case, she would have never let the Bennett witch get close to me."

_ Believe me, I wanted to kill you. _

Klaus stood there, I'm not sure what he was looking for but he seemed to find it, "For the next part of my plan I have to be able to trust you and since I can't do that and you can't be compelled, you're all but useless to me."

"Why bring up my birthday if you're just going to shove me in a box somewhere."

"Oh no dear you misunderstand," he shoved something in my coat pocket, "I need you for something else." *Snap*

  
  


**Damon's POV.**

It's been six weeks, six weeks of chasing down half leads and getting nowhere. I didn't even know if she was alive, Stefan and Klaus have both been seen but not Alexis. I walked down into the parlor grabbing a drink as Elena walked in, "You should really knock."

"Why, Ric said your juice box was busy last night." She snapped, I raised my eyebrow at the reference, "his words not mine," she shrugged.

Elena rolled her eyes handing me a piece of paper, "Sheriff Forbes said there have been a couple 'animal' attacks just outside Memphis."

"So another dead end then?"

"You don't want to go then I'll just do it myself." She stepped up into the hall and I zipped in front of her and snatched the paper out of her hands, "I'll take care of it, Klaus thinks you're dead let's keep it that way, besides don't you have birthday party stuff to do?"

"Not much of a birthday when both your sister and boyfriend are off on a killing spree."

I didn't have the heart to tell her it was probably Stefan doing most of the killing. "I'll make some calls and let you know what I find." She huffed turning on her heel and heading out, I pulled out my phone and called Ric.

"You got the address?" Alaric asked we were about an hour away and on a time limit.

"Yeah, Andie just sent it to me," I leaned over putting it in the GPS.

"You're not going to kill her are you?"

"Andie? I wasn't planning on it." I rejected Elena's third call since we left the house.

"So what happens to her when you find Alexis?"

"I say the magic words and she forgets I ever existed."

"I'm afraid to ask, what are the magic words?"

"Game over," I smirked.

"Seriously?" Alaric asked, surprised as he turned off the highway, "Seems a little cruel."

"Hence the forgetting I ever existed." I sighed, "She asked me not to leave a trail of bodies, I did that. She left, she could have flipped the switch and stayed but she didn't. Part of me gets that but there is an even bigger part of me that's still really angry, she couldn't trust me enough to keep her from doing something she'd regret with the switch flipped."

"You don't know that."

"You don't know Alexis." I leaned back in my seat, "Says we'll be there in 20 minutes." My phone rang again.

"Elena?" Ric asked turning down, yet another dirt road.

"Yeah."

"Why don't you just tell her what we're doing?"

"Because I'm not going to get her hopes up on half leads. No one's even seen Alexis and Stefan at this point is so far off the wagon Elena might not see the old him in her lifetime."

"Well, what am I supposed to tell her? I'm your accomplice on these half leads."

"Still sleeping on the couch?" I asked, leaning up to look up at the white farmhouse coming into view.

"Yeah you know I keep waiting for them to kick me out, I'm not helpful."

I'm sure he didn't get just how helpful having someone around could be. Especially for someone like Elena, who up until a year ago, was surrounded by family and friends. 

  
  


**Alexis's POV**

I opened my eyes but it was pitch black,  _ oh god he buried me in a field.  _ I felt around me, feeling drywall to my sides and coats above me. I was in a closet, I felt around for a door finally grabbing a handle, it was locked. I leaned up against it hearing someone coming up the stairs outside. I needed to get out of here. I stood up pushing clothes to either side and pushed off the back wall with my foot, crashing into the door with my shoulder. I ended up in the hallway as the front door swung open. I looked up as Damon walked through the door, he looked up at me speechless, "Hi." I said quietly.

"Hi?" Damon replied angrily before he zipped forward, pinning me against the wall.

I smirked before flipping us around and holding him down, "I'm stronger than you even when you're not dying." He pushed against me and I let him go, "Speaking of me dying, what are you even doing here?" He asked.

"I don't know, Klaus snapped my neck and I woke up in a closet," I stopped feeling the pockets of my jacket, pulling out my phone, which was dead and a note with Damon's name on it, the other pocket had Elena's necklace in it. I held out the note, Damon snatched it out of my hand, "What's that?" Ric asked.

"It's Elena's, it wasn't in my pocket before I got killed." I shrugged and shoved it back in my pocket, "What's the note say?"

"Basically you're a bargaining chip. He said the only use you are to him now is an incentive to keep us from looking for Stefan. How did he even know?" He shoved it into his pocket as I reached for it.

"He's got a shit ton of friends, people who owe him favors. Probably has someone keeping an eye out for you."

"How do I know you're not compelled to do just that?" Damon growled.

"Did that werewolf bite leave you with some brain damage? I can't be compelled, not even by you anymore." I smirked before passing the room where Sarah and Mary were posed on the couch, "Oh god!" I spun away covering my mouth.

"You think you'd be used to it running around with Stefan all summer," Damon moved past me and Ric followed with a disgusted look on his face, "How do you know it was Stefan?"

Damon walked over looking at the girls, "There's a reason they call him the Ripper, it's the damnedest thing, he feeds so hard he blacks out and feeds until their heads fall off. When it's all over he feels remorse and puts the bodies back together."

I turned around just in time to see Damon nudge Sarah with his foot, her head rocked, and then rolled down her body to the floor. The sight made me actually feel ill, "I need some air." I said before moving past Ric outside.

  
  


After a few minutes both guys walked outside, Damon stopped, standing next to me, "I'll give you guys a minute." Ric announced as he walked to the car.

"Hi," I said again quietly.

"Yeah, you said that." Damon spat, "What the hell Alexis. I thought you were dead."

"Well that was dumb, I can't die."

"Whatever." Damon threw his hands up and turned to walk off the porch.

"Damon, wait," I called after him.

"What?" He whipped around.

"I tried, I tried to let you know I was alive."

"Really? I must have missed your call."

"I tried to magically send you a message, Klaus had a witch tracking my magic, they intercepted the note, Klaus was pissed and he bit me." I gripped the porch rail so hard I heard the wood splinter, I snatched my hands back and looked down.

"He bit you?" It was probably just wishful thinking but I swore I heard concern in his voice.

"Yeah, and then had the same witch prolong my suffering for three days. After that, I stopped talking."

Damon looked me up and down for a moment, "Are you coming back to Mystic Falls?"

"I'd like to. I never thought I'd say that."

"Help me get rid of the evidence." Damon flashed to the truck and pulled out 2 gas cans, rushing back and handing me one, we proceeded to douse the farmhouse, "Hey did you get a chance to look around here last night?" He asked, pressing on the floor with his foot making a creaking noise.

"No, I just got them invited in and then Klaus sent me outside. When I was actually allowed out he never made me stick around for the gruesome stuff. This is the first time I've actually seen Stefan's aftermath."

Damon pulled the rug back, revealing a trap door. Damon flipped it open and stepped down the small ladder, "Well what do you know, a werewolf lair."

"He's looking for a werewolf to lead him to a pack, he's got a list with about 500 names on it."

"Wonder how he got that," Damon replied, climbing back up. He grabbed his gas can and continued throwing the accelerant around.

"You can't stay mad at me forever."

"I can be pissed right now." He threw the can into the hall and we stepped outside, "Little help?"

"Oh, now I'm useful." I raised my hand and flames shot up. I flinched but when nothing happened I watched as the flames licked up the walls and ignited the furniture. This old farmhouse would be nothing but ash in less than an hour.

I followed Damon back to Ric's truck, he opened the back door for me and I climbed in. Ric turned around in his seat as Damon got in, "Happy Birthday." 

"Thanks, I guess."

"Caroline is going to be excited," Damon said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

"Why?" I asked as Damon ignored the call.

"She swore you'd be back by tonight, has an outfit picked out for you to wear and everything." he rejected another call this time I caught the name on the screen but I didn't say anything about it, "How's Elena? And Jeremy?"

"Jeremy is good, he's working at the grill," Alaric answered.

"And Elena?" I repeated.

"As well as can be expected, considering the fact that you and Stefan just took off," Damon replied bitterly.

"To save you." I spat back.

"No one asked you to." 

"Whatever." I slammed my back against the seat and crossed my arms staring out the window.  _ You knew he would be mad, you thought he'd have a decade to get over it but you knew he'd be mad. _ I was starving, it had been a while since I fed, "You wouldn't by chance have a blood bag stashed in here would you?"

"No. Ric, you wanna lend a vein?" Damon smirked.

"Not particularly." He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't even if you were ok with it." I crossed my legs in the seat and leaned on the door looking out the window.

"We can stop if you need to, I'm sure there's a jogger or ten in these beautiful woods." Damon pointed out his own window.

"No I'm fine, I'm umm laying off the fresh stuff for a bit." I didn't look away from the window, "Now that I have a choice." I added quietly.

Damon turned in his seat looking back at me, for the second time since I'd burst out of that closet I'd seen something other than anger. I swallowed hard, not ready for the onslaught of questions I'm sure was to come, I quickly asked, "So where's my stuff, I need a shower and some clothes I haven't recently died in."

"Everything is right where you left it," Damon replied before turning back around in his seat.

Alaric dropped us off at the boarding house and Damon opened my door as he told Ric he'd see him later at the party. "Your clothes are still in the closet," Damon said to me as he pulled out his phone and rejected another call.

"Who's Andie?" I finally asked.

"You should go in, I think I hear Caroline and Elena." He walked over to his car.

I sighed and slowly pushed open the door walking in, "Honey I'm home!" I yelled out. I hadn't made it two steps when Caroline crashed into me and trapped me in a bone-crushing hug, "See Elena I told you, I just knew she would be back by your guy's birthday." She screeched right into my ear.

"Please let me go, I think I feel ribs poking organs." I groaned, Caroline moved away and revealed Elena right behind her. She looked tired but the smile that crossed her face washed most of it away, "Happy birthday," I said. 

"You too." She walked up hugging me, "I'm glad you're home.

"Me too," I replied as she moved away. I walked all the way in and headed for the cellar, Caroline followed after me while Elena helped Tyler find somewhere for the rest of the booze to go.

"I've been telling them since you left, that you'd be back. I bet it was some crazy escape, wait is Klaus going to come looking for you?"

I rolled my eyes when we got to the bottom of the steps, "No, no one's coming after me." I walked to the chest fridge and opened it up, snatching a blood bag I ripped the top off and started drinking.

"Well, then how are you even here?"

"Klaus let me go, he thought it would make everyone stop looking for Stefan." I finished the bag and pulled out a second, knowing Caroline there was going to be a bunch of people at this party and I really didn't need the extra temptation. 

"Is Damon going to stop looking for Stefan now that he found you?"

"Doubtful, and I don't blame him, he should keep looking." I slowly took a sip from the second bag, "So knowing you, there's two different party scenarios in your head, one with me, one without."

"Yeah, so?" She took the bag from me taking a sip.

"Soooo, can you do the one without?"

"Absolutely not, Elena has been miserable and I'm sure the last couple months have been awful for you too. You need this all of us do."

"I feel like it's worse, you know for Elena it's just me here."

"How is Stefan?"

I looked down at my feet, "Not great."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Tonight we drink." She held up the blood bag triumphantly, "Go shower and meet us in Stefan's room. I'm going to make you pretty."

I snatched the blood bag back from her, "I'm fucking gorgeous, what are you talking about."

Walking into Damon's room felt strange, mostly because everything really was right where I left it. Cate's journal was still laid open on the floor next to my bag, I crouched down digging through it, a stale bag of weed, and a bowl, I slipped those into my jacket pocket and plugged in my phone. I let myself fall back on the bed,  _ God I missed this bed,  _ I heard footsteps coming from the hall and shot up. Damon walked in as I rounded the bed, throwing my coat on it and walking toward the closet. "Caroline commanded me to take a shower, I can go use one of the guest bathrooms I just need something to wear."

"No. I just had to grab something, I have one more stop to make."

"I can help you find Stefan, or well, Ray. That's who they were looking for."

"How? You can't do a locator spell without something of his and we torched the place." 

"Well vampirism has turned me into a klepto," reaching into my shorts, I pulled out a set of dog tags, "I found them upstairs in the only room a dude would have ever slept in." I tossed them to Damon, "Since you clearly don't trust me, which I understand, have Bonnie help you."

"She's not here, she's visiting her dad's family off in the land of I don't care." He stared at the tags, "Look you've done enough, leave finding Stefan to me."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, staring at the ground.

"You could have stayed."

"I could have but I didn't and I can't go back and change that. I have spent the last 6 weeks beating myself up over it, telling myself I'm no better than Kathrine-"

"You're not Kathrine."

"Besides the point, I've had nothing but time to think and torment myself. I get it you wanna hate me, fine, you wanna talk, fine but please just know that I didn't leave to hurt you."

"But you left." He said quietly, "Look I gotta go, I'll see you later." He slipped past me and out into the hall. I sighed and walked to the closet, pulling the door open a little harder than necessary, papers fell to the floor, "Shit." I said quietly as I crouched down to pick them up, they were articles, animal attacks, arson, bodies found completely torn apart. I picked up the papers and stood up looking at the door. I could see where most of them had been pinned, there was a map with pins in all the places I'd been the last few weeks and notes about what he found when he got there. I put the papers back and quickly grabbed something to change into after my shower.

"So what do you want me to do with your hair?" Caroline asked Elena as I walked around looking at all the junk in Stefan's room.

"Damon hates me." I blurted out, looking at myself in the mirror.

"Nope," Caroline replied.

"Not even close," Elena said right behind her.

"'Oh what do you two know." I huffed.

"I know that since you left no one's been allowed in his room, or whenever your name gets mentioned he tends to break things." Elena said, "He missed you as much as I miss Stefan, he's just upset."

"Who's Andie?" I asked picking up a pair of scissors off the desk.

"If we don't tell you are you going to stab us?" Caroline laughed.

"What? No."

"Some girl who's been helping him look for you guys." 

"That's it?"

Elena looked down at the floor, "They started spending a lot of time together a couple of weeks ago but Alaric says he refers to her as his juice box."

I turned back around looking in the mirror again, with a couple of quick movements I pulled all my hair into a low pony and chopped everything above it off with the scissors. I shook my head letting my hair fall landing just above the shoulders.

"Oh my god, Alexis." Caroline yelled, "You're pretty hair."

"It's hair, Caroline."

"I like it," Elena smiled, "and not just cause you owe me $50 now."

"Yeah, you were never getting that," I smirked.

"How is Stefan?" Elena asked quietly.

"He's umm coping."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Stefan is doing what he needs to do, he doesn't have the option to be a pain in the ass, he's keeping himself alive."

"Oh."

"Enough gloom and doom. Let's talk about something else." Caroline jumped in.

An hour later we were dressed and heading downstairs, Elena and I in almost matching dresses, except hers was white and mine was black. I'm sure there was a good twin, evil twin reference in there but one could never have enough black in her closet so I wasn't complaining, at least not about the dress. The shoes were another story, I was pretty sure even as a vampire I was going to break my neck going down the stairs. I stopped outside Damon's room letting Caroline and Elena know I'd be right down, I snuck in hearing the shower running.  _ I wonder when he got back. _

I slipped into the closet grabbing a pair of Chucks. I walked out and quietly closed the closet door, I sat down on the floor pulling off the ungodly heels and replacing them with the sneakers. As I stood up I heard Damon from behind me, "You should at least humor her for an hour."

"I think I've had my neck snapped enough for today." When I turned around I was face to face with Damon wrapped in a towel, I licked my lips and looked up at him, "You cut your hair?" He said quietly.

"See what happens when you leave me unsupervised?" I replied loud music started playing from downstairs.

"Sounds like your party is starting."

"I'm forever 17, technically it's not my birthday." 

"Then I guess you don't want your birthday present." He smirked walking over to his dresser.

"If I decline the present does that mean I can skip the party?"

"Not a chance, I have to go so do you."

Damon pulled on some clothes, I only stole a couple of peeks, the smirk on his face when he turned back around meant he was well aware.

"Is  _ Andie  _ coming?" I asked, keeping my voice even. _ I left, I'm not allowed to be mad. _

"Will you  _ stop _ asking me about Andie?"

"I know what I need to, Elena has a big mouth." I stopped, changing my tone, "I'm probably going to bail on the party early and go home, it'll be nice to sleep somewhere not a hotel."

"Caroline will be mad."

"I'm not afraid of Caroline." 

"You should stay, I think we need to talk. You know without a hundred juvenile delinquents downstairs destroying my house."

"Yeah, we probably should." I looked down at my shoes, "You really think she's going to be mad?"

"Passive aggressively, so," he smirked. I let out a huff and pulled off the Converse, handing them to Damon, "Stash these, please." He laughed, taking the shoes and walking into the hall while I finished pulling the devil shoes back on.

  
  


"You look beautiful." Caroline screeched as I stepped down into the parlor.

"Thanks." I replied nervously, all these people made me anxious, "Where's the booze?" I asked with a little more confidence.

"That's the spirit, this way birthday girl."

I managed to get a couple of drinks in me, curbing the appetite of the giddy little vampire in me, dying to use these kids as a buffet. I poured what was left of a whiskey bottle into my solo cup and started walking around. Finally spotting Jeremy on a couch in the next room, Matt in a chair next to him.

"Oh thank God someone I like." I hopped over the back of the couch and set my legs in Jeremy's lap, "Gimmie." I said holding my hand out 

He rolled his eyes and handed me the joint in his hand, "Wow you think you'd have learned some manners hanging out with a thousand-year-old vampire."

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'hanging out' more like dooming hundreds of werewolves to what I'm sure is a very painful death." 

"On that note," Matt stood up taking the joint from me, "Welcome home."

"He likes to pretend he doesn't know what's really going on around here," Jeremy whispered.

I saw Elena walking over with an angry expression, "Don't look now but you're about to be in trouble." I told Jeremy as I hopped out of my seat. 

"You're not even going to help?"

"Nope you're a big boy now, gotta go." 

  
  


**Damon's pov**

I watched as Caroline dragged Alexis across the parlor and I made my way outside, snatching an expensive bottle of bourbon from a random kid. I sat on the wall outside, a few minutes later Alaric walked up.

"I'm every parent's worst nightmare." He said, sitting down and taking the bottle from me.

"I love high school parties," I smirked.

Alaric took a sip and handed the bottle back, "So are you going to let Andie walk into the lion's den?"

"Oh no, I cut that off this afternoon."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Andie was a distraction, Alexis is home so I no longer need a distraction." I took a long drink from the bottle.

"Speak of the devil," Alaric replied looking at the door.

**Alexis's POV.**

"Shoes please." I smiled, walking out barefoot.

"What happened to the ones you were wearing," Damon asked, reaching over the wall and then holding out my shoes.

"I lost them about the time I finished my fourth drink." I finished what was left in my cup and tossed it. "I'll pick it up later," I mumbled.

"So that was number five?" Alaric asked.

"Six, I think, I might be drunk." I laughed,

taking my shoes and sitting on the ground.

"You're cut off." Damon chimed in.

"You're not my boss." I snapped back. "It's my party, I'll puke if I want to."

"Do vampires even do that?" Ric asked Damon.

"I might." I giggled from the ground.

"Are you drunk?" Elena asked walking out.

"Probably," I answered, giving up on my shoes.

"I just saw you like 10 minutes ago." She took the bottle from Damon and took a swig.

"Okay, I may have been drinking straight liquor out of full Solo cups." I watched the annoyance flash across her face, "I'm just trying not to kill everyone." I shrugged, "if you'd rather I can just treat this like the all you can eat buffet my warped little mind is trying to turn it in to."

She shoved the bottle towards me and I took it only to have it snatched back by Damon, "Hey!" I yelled and he ignored me.

"Can you talk to Jeremy?" She asked Alaric, "He's smoking again."

"Matt brought it and it is bitchin." I laughed.

"Enough lush." Damon nudged me with his knee.

"Anyway he looks up to you Alaric, it would really mean a lot." Elena said with a small smile, Ric nodded and she walked towards the door, "Caroline will kill you if you don't sober up for cake." She added looking at me before heading back in.

"Speed drinking doesn't sound so fun anymore, does it?" Damon laughed as he stood up, "I'm going to get her cleaned up, you think you can handle being the oldest guy out here for a bit?"

"Yeah, I think I can handle it." Ric laughed back.

Damon bent down scooping me up off the ground, "No, put me down." I tried to wiggle free, this was the closest we'd been since this morning. "I can walk." He set me down grabbing my shoes and steered me inside with his hand on my lower back. I turned to head upstairs but he led me to the cellar, "What are we-"

"We're sobering you up come on."

We got downstairs and Damon pulled a sheet off of a chair, "Here, sit down." I plopped into the chair sending dust everywhere,  _ that sheet didn't really help, did it? _

Damon grabbed two bags out of the fridge and handed me one, "It'll sober you up."

"I've already had two."

"So, you're in a stressful situation, you can drink that whole fridge if you need to."

"You can go back up, I'll be fine," I said, still fiddling with the top of the bag.

"Pidge-" he started, crouching down.

"Please don't call me that." My voice was almost a whisper.

"Why?" He took the bag from me and pulled the top off before handing it back.

"Isn't your date going to be here soon?" I took a drink from the bag.  _ Stop, being, an asshole Alexis." _

"I swear, I'm going to kill your sister." Damon stood up, turning away from me, "She's gone, on her way to some other small town, with no memory of me. You asked me not to kill anyone and you know as well as I do, that urge has to be replaced with something else." He turned back around, "You are currently the prime example of that."

"Elena shouldn't have been the one to tell me, I asked  _ you." _ I finished off the bag, feeling slightly less drunk, "I get it, doesn't mean I'm happy about it." I fiddled with my bracelet spinning it on my wrist.

"Why do you even still wear that? It's useless now."

"Funny story, I can't take it off. It shocked the piss out of me when I tried. So it's there till the leather rots."

He let out a small laugh.

"I should get back upstairs, I'm sure Caroline is going to hunt me down sooner or later." I handed him the second empty bag and stood up.

"Moderation is your friend."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled up the stairs.

I'll admit moderation had been my friend through the next hour, I'd managed to actually have a good time. Elena seemed a little better, even if it was just for now. Caroline kept an eye on me I'm sure at Damon's instructions, but it really wasn't necessary. I only had to hold it all together for a couple more hours, after cake and more drunken dancing I needed some air that wasn't soaked with boozy high school kids. I walked out back and leaned on the railing, enjoying the cool breeze as it hit my face.

"Hiding?" I heard Damon from behind me.

"Yes," I smirked, turning to face him, "I need a break from all the people. Did you know Elena has been telling people I was at some obscure summer program, I can't even remember the name."

"I thought we should have told people you went to rehab but no one listens to me." 

"Probably would have made way more sense," I laughed, jumping up on the rail.

"Caroline compelled the right people at the school, you finished Junior year and you both are still tied for valedictorian."

"Well considering I was 9 points ahead when I left I guess I should be grateful."

"Someone is clearly sober again." He sighed, looking up at me, "I missed this."

I sat down kicking my feet back and forth, "What, awkward small talk?"

"No just you, being here, seeing you."

"Believe me, I'm happy to be here. I meant it earlier too, I want to help you get Stefan back, I saw the closet."

Damon tensed up, "No, you wanna make it up to me you will stay out of all Klaus related matters."

"Damon-"

"Stay out of it!" He growled before walking back inside.

I followed him inside and yanked him into the bathroom off the hall, slamming the door shut, "No absolutely not." I yelled, "I've spent the last six weeks watching him destroy himself, I'm not just going to sit back and watch."

"I can't let you get sucked back into all of this. I won't," he yelled back, stopping and taking a breath he continued, "I can't lose  _ you _ again."

"I'm not going anywhere." I replied quietly, "I drove myself crazy wondering if Kathrine showed up that night. It was weeks before I heard Klaus talking about you looking for us and even then I had no clue if he'd already killed you for it."

"I wanted to burn that letter and most of your stuff."

"Thanks for you know, not."

"I didn't read it right away, I took off for a couple of days."

I stepped up closer to him, putting one hand on his cheek, "Please forgive me."

Damon grabbed my hand, at first I thought it was to push it away but his other hand found my hip and he pushed me up against the door, crashing his lips on mine. His tongue ran across the seam of my lips, which I parted quickly, pressing my chest against his. He let go of my wrist and moved his hands to my ass, lifting me up and onto the counter. I moaned as he moved his mouth down my neck, biting with his blunt teeth sending shocks through my body. 

A knock on the door broke our concentration, "GO AWAY!" We both yelled.

"Seriously, in the bathroom," Elena whined from the other side.

"Get off me." I hissed at Damon, who's hand was halfway up my dress.

"You're kidding." He replied disappointed as he pulled his hand back.

"No she's right, there are a shit ton of people out there."

"We've done this before, twice, I believe."

"Yes, but I didn't know anyone on the other side of the door." I laced my fingers behind his neck and leaned in, "but I wouldn't be opposed to going upstairs." I leaned back smiling, "and I mean if you just wanna do it in a bathroom-" Damon cut me off kissing me quickly, "Stop talking." He smirked, scooping me up and opening the door.

We almost made it to the stairs when Caroline stepped in front of us "Seriously, the bathroom?"

"Caroline if you don't get out of my way we'll do it right here," Damon replied.

" _ No, we won't," _ I said quickly, fighting to get down, Damon just held on tighter and nudged Caroline out of the way, moving to the staircase. 

As soon as the door was closed, our lips were locked again. My hands worked at the buttons of his shirt, while he moved to my back pulling the zipper of my dress down. I shrugged it off my shoulders and it pooled on the floor, leaving me in just my bra and underwear. I pushed his shirt off his shoulders and ran my fingers down his chest. 

In one quick motion Damon lifted me up and threw me onto the bed, his tongue swirled in the hollow of my throat. My hips bucked and I laced my fingers in his hair as he moved down my chest. He tore open my bra and smirked at the face I made, "You're lucky the dress survived." He laughed and moved back to planting kisses over my breasts as one hand slid down my side. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him towards me, my hands back in his hair, I kissed him. He caught my lip in his teeth and dug his fingers into my hips, he bucked forward causing me to throw my head back further into the bed and moan. 

He smirked and trailed his mouth back down swirling his tongue over each of my nipples as his fingers snapped the thin fabric of my panties. Damon lightly ran his fingers through the juncture of my thighs. I moaned out again finally realizing how much I needed this, I nearly exploded as his thumb brushed over my clit. My back arched and my eyes rolled back, Damon teeth grazed over my nipple and rolled his thumb a little harder over the sensitive bundle of nerves. "Fuck." I groaned out.

Damon pushed two fingers in my core, I rolled my hips into his hand and he crashed his lips on mine again. He worked at a vigorous pace, my walls tightened around his fingers and I moaned into his mouth. He pulled away as I came down from my high, kicking his pants off and climbing back on the bed. He pulled me on top of him and wasted no time filling me up. I threw my head back, dragging my nails down his chest leaving little bloodied trails that healed immediately.

I could feel myself getting close again, Damon rolled my nipples between his fingers, I moaned out as my orgasm rocked through my whole body. Damon smirked and flipped us over, thrusting in and bottoming out, both of us panting as he sped up. I wrapped my legs around his waist pulling him closer. He leaned in, running his tongue over my pulse point. I craned my neck giving him the go-ahead, he bit down and my hips bucked forward. Tingles ran through my body as we both reached our release, Damon kissed my forehead before he rolled off of me. "Happy birthday to me," I breathlessly sang out.

"That wasn't your present." Damon laughed, rolling off the bed.

I sat up and walked to the closet intent on swapping my dress for shorts and a tank top. "Does Elena know about this murder board you have in here?"

"No, and she doesn't need to," Damon replied, raising an eyebrow. We finished getting dressed and Damon led me downstairs and outside. I noticed Caroline cleaning on our way out most of the guests were gone and the rest were on their way out. We wandered out towards the garage, "Close your eyes." He commanded.

I did, stealing a peak as he got to the door, "I said close 'em." He said looking back. I heard the garage door open and he told me to open my eyes, "Seriously?" I asked walking over to the small motorcycle, it was black with the words Honda Shadow written across the gas tank in gold. I ran my fingers over the seat, Damon walked up behind me, "Jeremy has kind of taken over your truck, and you're indestructible now so…" he trailed off.

"Thank you," I smiled, "You wouldn't by chance know how to drive it would you."

"You know, it just so happens I do and I'd be happy to teach you."

When we walked inside Caroline had abandoned cleaning and was lip-locked with Tyler, I stepped down into the parlor and grabbed a pillow. I threw it smacking Tyler in the back of the head, "Hey!" They both whined.

"Get a room." I laughed walking back over to Damon, "Says the girl who was about to do it in a bathroom earlier." He whispered.

"But I didn't." I smiled walking back into Damon's room, the mood quickly changing when I saw Elena holding the papers from the closet. "I'm going to leave you guys to it then," I said trying to move around Damon, he grabbed my arm, and Elena spoke up, "No I think you need to tell me what the hell happened this summer. Damon, why didn't you tell me that you had been tracking them all summer, that you have been looking into Klaus's victims?"

"Because this trail of bodies I've been following isn't Klaus's, it's Stefan's." Damon replied quietly."

"He let Alexis go because we were getting close, maybe if we keep on it he'll let Stefan go too."

"Klaus sent me on my way because I literally made every task into the biggest project, dragged my feet, Stefan doesn't have that luxury. I can't be killed so his choices were stuff me in a box or let me loose, you guys weren't going to stop looking for us. Maybe he figured one was better than none and kept the one that follows his every instruction." I watched as Damon shifted nervously, I chose to ignore it for now.

"You can't expect me to believe all of these are Stefan's," she yelled holding up the pile of papers.

"They aren't mine." I snapped back. 

"Tell me how he is, for real."

"Elena-"

"No, I want to know!"

"You don't trust me." I sighed, " He's off the rails, Elena."

"We've got him back before." Her voice was shaky.

"Elena go home," Damon said from behind me, "We can talk about this more tomorrow, okay?"

"Whatever, you're just going to keep hiding things from me. That's if you're even going to keep looking for him now that she's home." Elena spat, before turning and walking out into the hall.

I stepped forward, Damon grabbed my arm, I snatched it back quickly, I stepped into the hall, "Elena!" I yelled. She ignored me and kept walking towards the stairs, I threw my hand out and watched her freeze, "What the hell?" She asked, confused.

"You don't get to do that, you don't get to blame him. You can hate me if you want to. I'd hate you if the situation was reversed if you came home and Damon was gone."

"Let me go, Alexis." She growled I did and without another word, she was gone.

I walked back into Damon's room, "You understand that I have a personal stake in bringing your brother home too." I crouched down and picked up the papers Elena had thrown on the floor.

"How bad is it?" Damon asked as I handed the papers to him.

"Really fucking bad," I replied quietly.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Hills Of Tennessee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only own my OC. I hope everyone enjoys 😍 please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

P2C2

_ My eyes snapped open, I was in a hotel room. "No I was home," I cried out. I jumped up pulling on the door handle so hard it should have broken but nothing. I started pounding on the door. When I noticed the pain shooting through my shoulder I ran over to the mirror, pulling the collar of my shirt to the side and saw the angry mark Klaus had left was spreading. I pulled my hair back and threw up into the sink before collapsing against the wall. _

_ "I was home," I repeated quietly. _

_ "Pathetic." I looked up from my knees and saw Damon standing in front of me, "I'm glad you left." _

_ "You're not real," I screamed back. I covered my ears trying to block out what the figment of my imagination was screaming at me. _

_ "Weak, I was always running around cleaning up your mess, saving you." _

  
  


"STOP!" I yelled as I sat up. I was in Damon's room, I fell back against the pillows catching my breath.

"Stop what?" Damon mumbled.

"Nothing, go back to sleep," I whispered, getting out of bed and heading downstairs. I pulled a blood bag out of the fridge and took a long drink. "It was just a nightmare." I told myself quietly, "You've been having them for years." 

"Yeah but now you're talking to yourself." I shuddered, I hadn't heard that voice in a couple of days.

"Go away, Cate," I growled.

"This place is way nicer than the places Klaus had you slumming in." She smiled, hopping up and sitting on the fridge. Her curly brown hair, bouncing as she did. 

"It was until you showed up." I sighed, sitting in the chair Damon had set up for me earlier, "So much for you just being a product of captivity." I started hallucinating Cate, while I was suffering from the werewolf bite, unfortunately, she didn't leave when it was over. I rubbed my hands over my face hoping she'd be gone when I looked back up.

She wasn't, "And Damon, mmm, I totally would have flipped my switch to stay close to him."

I picked up a tin box from a pile of stuff and chucked it at her, it missed hitting the wall behind her and she was gone. "Fuck." I groaned. How the hell was I supposed to explain this? I wasn't, not right now. Right now Stefan was the main priority, then I'd deal with Cate.

The sun was up when I finally snuck back upstairs, I wandered into the kitchen turning on the coffee pot and waiting for it to brew.

I faintly heard Damon call my name, "Kitchen," I yelled back. He walked in with a weird look on his face, "I thought-" he trailed off.

"Nope, still here." I replied finishing his sentence, "Coffee?" I asked as I reached for two mugs, "I couldn't sleep."

"I see that since it's ridiculously early." He smirked as he took the cup from me.

"Wanna go on a road trip?" I blurted out.

"Didn't you just get back from an epically bad one?"

"Well, that's kinda why I need to go on this one. Klaus gave me a bunch of Cate's journals and a couple of grimoires to keep me occupied. I hid what I consider the best ones. It can wait, I'd just like to do it before school starts."

"So you're going to jump back on that crazy train?"

"Oh she was bat shit crazy for sure, but she was also a magical fucking genius." I took a sip from my mug and continued, "I left 2 in Pensacola and 1 at the hotel in Memphis."

  
  


"Why don't you just tell me where they are and I'll go get them."

"Because the people I compelled to take them won't give them to you," I smirked.

"I'm surprised Klaus left housekeeping alive."

"Food was never  _ that _ scarce," I replied uncomfortably.

"Feeling up for a locator spell?" He asked, clearly changing the subject.

"Absolutely." I finished my coffee and set the cup down following Damon out into the living room.

  
  


"Son of a bitch!" I yelled out an hour later.

Damon walked over handing me some tissue, I snatched it from him wiping my nose, "I almost had it." I looked down at the map, the smear of blood was mocking me. I'd almost managed to get through the spell that was being used to hide them but the truth was whoever had cast it was much stronger than me. Damon handed me a blood bag and I finished quickly.

"Maybe you need something a little fresher."

"No. I just need to practice more." I huffed getting off the floor and headed towards the hall.

"Where are you going?"

"I need a break," I called back. I walked upstairs and into Damon's room. I grabbed some clothes from the closet bringing them into the bathroom with me, I started the tub and put an obnoxious amount of bubbles in it. Turning around I set my clothes on the counter and looked into the mirror, magic took a lot out of me these days, mostly because I hadn't been allowed to do anything outside of the werewolf spell Klaus needed. I almost wanted to just give it up but at the same time, I'd feel lost without it, like I'd lost a part of myself. I wasn't a ripper with it so in the end, it was a good thing to keep.

  
  


I got undressed and slipped into the too hot water, closing my eyes and leaning my head back on the side of the tub.

"Being a hybrid isn't for the weak." 

" _ Annnd _ you're back," I grumbled, "Go away before someone catches me talking to myself."

"I'd love to be anywhere else, believe me," She put her hands on the edge of the tub and leaned down, "but since you seem to be the only one who can see me, here I am."

"I'm going to get the journals you told me to hide, I can't do anything until I have those so just go away."

"You can't do anything if you keep denying what you're  _ really _ hungry for."

"Go away," I growled before sinking down into the water.

After a couple of seconds I felt a hand on my shoulder, it startled me and I quickly sat up. "Easy there killer," Damon said, wiping water off of his shirt.

"Sorry." I ran my hands over my face and through my hair.

"It's ok, I was trying to give you a little bit but your phone's been going nuts." He held out a towel, I smirked and grabbed his wrist instead of the towel, "Don't you dare." He said with a serious face.

I let go of his hand and let mine fall back into the water, "You're no fun."

"I'm tons of fun but no one likes wet jeans." He threw a hand towel at me and then handed me my phone, I scrolled through there was a text from Tyler looking for Caroline, Jeremy had a witch question for me,  _ why can't he just ask Bonnie? Were they still dating?  _ And 3 missed calls from Elena and a text message,  **Can you meet me at the grill around 10? Just you?**

_ Why just me?  _ I looked at the time, it was 9:15 I should be able to make it there in plenty of time. I texted her back. I looked up as Damon, noticing his shirt was missing as he crouched down next to the tub, taking the phone and setting it on the floor. He put one hand behind my head and pulled my face to his, kissing me softly. I opened my mouth and our tongues danced together as he trailed his hand lightly down my neck and over my collarbone. It dipped under the water, squeezing one breast and then the other. I moaned into Damon's mouth as he gave each nipple a pinch before moving down my stomach.

I pulled away from our kiss, "I have -have to.." 

I trailed off as Damon's hand found its destination, his thumb rubbed slow circles over my clit. I arched my back under the water and moaned again. Damon leaned in again kissing up my jaw to my ear, "What was that?" He asked with a smirk, his thumb continued moving as he pushed two fingers inside me. My hips bucked sending water over the side of the tub, Damon's fingers curled rubbing my g-spot. My hands clutched the side of the tub as Damon sped up his fingers adding a third. I threw my head back and he kissed me again running his tongue over mine as I fell over the edge.

Damon pulled his hand out of the water and leaned back, while I caught my breath. "That wasn't fair," I said as I stood up and stepped out of the tub. Damon threw me a towel and laughed, "What are you going to do about it?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

I vamped over to him and ran my fingers down his chest, "Paybacks a bitch." I smirked and leaned on kissing his neck before sucking on his pulse point. My hands made it to the top of his jeans, popping the button and wasting no time wrapping my hand around his length. He tangled his hand in my hair and tilted my head back to look up at him. He crashed his lips on mine again and out tongues danced together. I moved my hand a little faster as I broke away from our kiss. I smiled against his skin as I made my way down his chest, kissing and licking, the movement of my hand causing a moan to roll through Damon's throat.

I took my hand back and was on my knees, I licked my lips and looked up as I hooked my fingers in his belt loops and pulled down his jeans, "Didn't feel like underwear today?" I laughed but didn't give him time to respond, I ran my tongue up his length pressing the ball of my tongue ring against the sensitive skin.

Damon latched onto my hair with one hand and the counter with the other as I got to the tip, taking it into my mouth and swirling my tongue around it. I felt his grip tightened as I took him deep into my mouth, pulling back slowly, repeating the motion a few times.

"Fuck, Alexis." He groaned out.

I started moving faster, cupping his balls in my hand, I felt his dick tense even more as I made sure to keep my fun piece of jewelry in play. I looked up through my lashes, the look of pure bliss on Damon's face sent a shock through my body and straight to my core. An unintentional moan vibrated around his dick and his eyes snapped open. In a flash his hand moved from the counter to my shoulder, using that and his hand still in my hair, Damon guided me so I was laying on the tile. My back arched as his thumb rolled over my clit, he kissed his way over my stomach, smirking against my skin with every little noise I made.

He hovered over me, barely an inch between us, he rubbed his dick through my folds, teasing me. "Damon,  _ please _ ." I whimpered. Our lips connected as he buried himself to the hilt. I moaned into his mouth and dug my nails into his shoulders as he rocked his hips forward. I bucked mine meeting his thrusts, panting as he kissed down my neck. I could feel another orgasm building, Damon's sped up his movements. "Oh, fuck don't stop." I was begging again as heat radiated from my core through my body as my walls clamped down around him. 

He'd slowed down as I rode out my high, my eyes snapped open and he smirked, he pulled out of me and I whined, it quickly turned to a noise of surprise when Damon pulled me up, "Put your hands on the counter." He whispered in my ear as he walked behind me, running a hand down my stomach and over my sex, teasing the sensitive bundle of nerves. I suppressed a shiver as I placed my hands on the counter, I had to bend a little to reach it, which seemed to be Damon's plan because as soon as my hands hit the counter he slid into me. He moved with a purpose, my hands gripped the counter so hard I thought I would break it. Damon's free hand slid up over my chest to my neck slightly tilting it towards him as he kissed where it met my shoulder.

I didn't try to suppress my face as the veins crawled under my eyes. Damon's wrist appeared in front of my mouth, my fangs dropped and I quickly broke through the thin skin. Damon sunk his teeth into my shoulder as he continued thrusting into me, I dropped his wrist as another orgasm ripped through me. Damon moaned into my neck as he came behind me. He stepped out from behind me and I let go of the counter and melted to the floor.

When I caught my breath I stood up and cleaned myself up. I suddenly remembered I needed to be at the grill, "Shit what time is it?" I asked, pulling on clothes.

"10:15 why?" He asked, replacing his jeans, "Hot date?"

"Yeah, with Elena, and go figure I'm late." I ran over grabbing my bag.

"How are you going to get there?"

I hadn't thought of that, Elena wanted it to be just me and I still had no clue how to drive my birthday present. I smirked before flipping my damp hair over my head and tying it up in a much smaller ponytail than I was used to, "Guess I'm going to run." I kissed him on his cheek and slipped out into the hall.

"Stay in the woods!" He called after me.

" _ Yes, mom,"  _ I yelled back before zipping out the door. 

  
  


When I reached the edge of the woods I shook my hair out and stepped onto the sidewalk. It was a beautiful summer day but it was still early and the square was pretty empty. I walked into the grill and blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light. I quickly found Elena talking to Tyler in one of the booths, "What did miss?" I asked, reaching the table.

"Have you seen Caroline?" Tyler asked.

"No, not since I kicked you guys out last night. Speaking of kicking, I owe you an ass-whoopin'."

"Tonight's the full moon, bring it on."

"You don't want me to take that challenge." I snapped.

"Jesus, what are you feral now?" Elena jumped up grabbing my hand, "Thanks Tyler, you've been a big help." She tugged on my arm pulling me towards the bar.

I planted my feet just before the step, "No, I'm not moving until you tell me what's going on."

"Will you just come on." She pulled on my arm again and I smirked, "Really?" I asked.

"You know what, fine." She signaled to Ric to come over.

"Elena?" I asked cautiously.

"What did Tyler say?" He asked.

"How do you feel about a hike through the Smoky mountains?" Elena asked 

"You wanna go wandering around some remote mountain range, looking for werewolves on a full moon?"

"You've lost you're fucking mind." I spat.

"Fine you guys won't help me I'll go by myself."

"Elena, when I said you could handle things on your own now, I meant like TV dinners and SATs." Alaric looked from Elena to me "You know what fine, let's go but you're driving."

Elena gave me a smug look and turned to leave, Alaric following behind her, I grabbed his arm, "You're serious, you guys are going to go werewolf hunting."

"Would you rather she go by herself?"

Elena was already outside opening the back of the truck, when I got to her, "Elena this is stupid, you could get killed."

"Then come with, you're invincible now right?"

"What's your plan, Elena? Klaus thinks you're dead, you're just going to bust in, ask for Stefan, and what?"

"So you're not going to help then?" She asked, finally turning her attention to me.

"No, this is crazy. Matter of fact, if you won't let me talk you out of this why don't we just ask Damon what he thinks?" I reached into my pocket for my phone and Elena used the distraction to her advantage. There was a pinprick in my arm and then fire shooting through my veins, "You bitch." Was all I managed before I passed out.

I stretched my arms out hitting hard plastic, I tried to open my eyes but the light burned.  _ Why does my head hurt so bad?  _ I could feel the vibrations from the tires, we were still moving. I ran my fingers along my forehead, feeling a sticky spot,  _ that's where the blood smell is coming from. _ I tried again to open my eyes, this time successfully, "You drug me and then don't even have the decency to put me in a seat." I threw my arm over the back seat and lifted my head up, Elena was looking at me nervously in the rearview. 

I pulled myself over the seat laying there for a second, "Just throw me in the trunk like luggage."

"You're heavy and Ric wouldn't help me, that's as far as I could get you." She finally answered.

"Thanks, Ric, I appreciate you not aiding my sister in  _ KIDNAPPING ME!" _

"Stop being dramatic."

I sat up, "How am I being dramatic you drugged me and  _ threw me in a trunk _ . Speaking of what happened to my face?"

"You went down a little faster than I anticipated, you hit your head on the bumper." She looked up at me again, "It's not healing very fast."

"I'm aware." I growled, "What exactly was in that syringe?"

"Witch hazel and vervain." She replied quietly, not looking away from the clearing we were driving through.

I leaned back into the seat, "I think I actually hate you right now. You realize I'm pretty much useless to you guys right? Just vervain would have got me in the trunk. I can't be compelled so I don't drink it. Clearly, I should start."

"I couldn't let you tell Damon he would have just tried to stop me." Elena threw the truck in park.

  
  


"Because it's a stupid idea. I'm done arguing with you, did you at least bring a blood bag?"

Elena's eyes went wide, "Oh!"

"Really?" Suddenly their heartbeats were way too loud, I needed to get out of the truck. I swung the door open and walked out into the field a few feet away from Elena and Alaric. They talked for a couple of minutes about which direction would be best, when they were done Elena moved to the back of the truck and Ric moved over to me, "You ok?"

"No, but I'm not going to hurt you."

"Damon's on his way," he said quietly, "He's about a half-hour behind us."

I nodded, "Did you know she was going to drug me?"

"No, she said she found the vervain in your room, and well witch hazel is 99 cents at a drugstore."

"Believe me I'm well aware of the irony," I rolled my eyes.

"I packed you a bag," Elena said from behind me.

"Does it have blood in it?" I asked sweetly.

"No, weapons." She looked down, avoiding me as I snatched the bag from her and started looking through it, taking a mental note of the weapons inside. Elena stepped in front of me holding out her wrist. I looked up confused, "I think I know what you're trying to do but I'm not sure if you're really that stupid."

"You said you need blood."

"Yeah, and you're going to need all of yours to get up this mountain."

"Don't be stubborn."

"Drop it, Elena," I growled and started walking in the direction they had been pointing. 

I stayed ahead of them as they talked about the possibility of getting over the ridge before the full moon. I was literally biting my tongue until it bled because thanks to  _ Elena _ , I was weak and hungry.

"Alexis, hang on," Alaric called from behind me. I walked over as he crouched down, digging into his bag, "Take these." He held out two grenades, one for each of us.

"I think I've had enough vervain today, thanks."

"It's a wolfsbane."

"Oh." I took it, placing it in the bag Elena had packed. I heard a small snap off in the woods, I caught just a light scent of what was out there and suppressed a smile,  _ Ooo, you're gonna get it.  _ It was only a second later Elena went flying through the air into the river. I burst into laughter and Damon scowled at me, "I'm not sure what you're laughing about. When you said you were going to meet Elena, I didn't think you meant in Tennessee!" He snapped and looked back over at Elena, "Get out of the water you two are going home."

"No," I replied, crossing my arms. 

"Are you fucking kidding me? After what I went through-"

"DAMON!" Elena shouted as she climbed back on dry land.

"No, let him finish." I cut her off, I looked back at Damon, "You were saying?"

His anger seemed to disappear, "What am I missing?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather jump to conclusions?" I looked past Damon to Ric, "I assume you didn't get the chance to tell him I'm not here willingly?" Damon whipped around and glared at Alaric, " _ Oh no _ not him, the drowned rat, shot me up and threw me in a trunk."

"Is that what happened to your forehead?"

"I can't believe you sold me out." Elena groaned to Ric.

"Oh really cause this plan was so thought out!" I spat.

"Jesus," she stomped over, "I already told you if you need blood, here" she shoved her wrist in my face again.

I pushed her away, "And I said drop it!" I picked up my bag, "Elena's not going to go with you so unless you want to carry her back to the car kicking and screaming, which is sure to draw a crowd," I stepped over to Damon and reached into his back pocket, taking his flask and earning myself a look which I ignored, "I suggest you just let her get this out of her system now. Can we go?" I took a big swig and handed it back.

"In a minute," Damon turned to Elena, "What's your big plan? Just going to walk up to a campsite full of werewolves and hang out waiting for Stefan to stop by?"

"This is the closest we've been all summer, I'm not going home." She replied defiantly.

"Klaus thinks you're dead which makes you safe."

"He called me." She shouted, "Last night."

"What?"

"I'm not leaving without him."

"It's a full moon, Elena."

"Which is getting closer by the minute," I reminded them.

"We'll be gone before then, please Damon," Elena begged.

"She's just as stubborn as you." Damon rolled his eyes and then looked at me.

"Well, we're twins so…" I trailed off.

"You know what, fine. But we're out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait."

"Promise." She replied.

Ric and Elena led the way, Damon and I following behind, "You know you could probably take a pint from each of them and I can just heal them."

"No, thanks," I replied.

"Alexis-"

"I said no, there is a hospital, not a mile from the hotel I stayed at in Memphis. We can snatch a couple of blood bags on the way home, I can get that journal too, no sense making a  _ third _ trip to Tennessee." 

"Something's wrong." He said, grabbing my arm making me stop.

"You have  _ no _ idea," I looked at Elena, "but now is not the time."

"Are you guys coming?" Elena called back impatiently.

Damon looked at me again and then up to Elena, "Yeah."

We'd been walking for a while in mostly silence, Damon was as tense as I was, both of us concentrating on noticing anything strange.

"The sun is starting to set," I announced.

"We still have a while until the moon reaches its apex," Elena replied.

I stopped hearing something off in the woods, Damon right next to me, "Did you hear that too?" He asked quietly.

"Guys," I called out, Ric and Elena turned around, I pointed to my right. Alaric raised his crossbow as a man came stumbling out his face covered in streaks of blood.

"You need to stay right there," Ric ordered.

Once I got past the mess this guy was in, I recognized him, he was in pictures in the room I'd found the dog tags in at the farmhouse, "Ray?" I said quietly.

His eyes locked on Damon, "Vampire." He growled as he rushed forward, he pushed Damon into a tree snapping at his arms.  _ Not again. _ I lunged at Ray, sinking my teeth into his shoulder, he flung me off and I slid across the ground. I heard Elena yell Damon's name and watched as she threw him a grenade. It exploded in Ray's face, he let go of Damon, staggering backward. With a couple of well-placed hits and a kick to the stomach, Ray was out. 

I ran over to Damon grabbing one arm and frantically looking for bite marks. He took my chin in his hand and made me look at him, "I'm fine."

I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding, Ric walked over looking at Ray, "Hybrid?"

"I think he's supposed to be but doesn't seem like much of a master race," I replied.

Damon crouched down looking at the bite I'd made, it was already oozing, Alaric started pulling out ropes. Elena stepped over and looked at Ray, "That looks bad."

"I'm not too sure he was healthy, to begin with," I replied, pulling cables from my own bag.

We spent the better part of 10 minutes trying and chaining up Ray. When he started to come to Damon pushed up against the ropes holding him down while Elena soaked more in Vervain, I stupidly tried to grab them, burning myself before Ric stepped in, fastening them around Ray and the tree.

"Those ropes aren't going to-" I stopped as I heard bone cracking and Ray started screaming.

"Is he turning?" Damon asked, confused.

"He can't be, it's still daylight," Elena yelled.

"Klaus can shift at will," I replied suddenly. "Maybe they all can."

"That would have been nice to know earlier." Damon snapped as Ray continued to fight against his restraints, bones still snapping.

"Those ropes aren't going to hold the wolf," Alaric pointed out as Damon applied more force to the bindings. I ran up pulling on his arm, "We need to go, now!"

Damon stayed planted and part of me knew he was the only thing keeping those ropes from snapping, "Damon!" I yelled. He whipped around and we all took off into the woods. 

The sun was completely down and the trees were hiding the light from the moon. I couldn't sense the wolf anywhere but that didn't mean he was gone. He could pop up at any moment. I heard a thud behind me and looked back, Elena was on the ground, she'd tripped over a root but that wasn't the problem. Not a foot in front of her was a growling wite wolf, "Elena don't move." Damon said slowly.

Damon shifted to the side I knew what he was about to do, I flashed to the opposite side and picked up a rock, "Hey!" I yelled, throwing the rock and hitting it square in the chest, his head snapped in my direction and he let out a low growl, "Catch me if you can, death breath." I spun around and took off, listening to make sure he was following. It wasn't long until it seemed like I'd outrun him, I slowed down digging through my bag, I pulled out a machete. I'd make a wide circle back to the truck, hopefully, I wouldn't have to use it."

I heard a snap behind me, I spun around and stopped just short of hitting Damon.

"We gotta go." He said pushing the machete down. There was another snap behind us, we turned around face to face with Ray, no longer a wolf. Before either of us had a chance to react, Ray's chest lurched forward with a sickening crunch, followed by a second, and Ray was on the ground. I looked up and we were now face to face with Stefan, "What part of back off did you not get?"

"Tell that to your girlfriend or better yet maybe stop with the late-night phone calls." Damon snapped moving in front of me.

"I didn't call her," Stefan replied.

"You did. She's not delusional," I spat, "and she's not going to stop looking for you."

"She needs to, I'm not coming back." He looked from me to Damon, "You know what'll happen if Klaus catches her out here. Get them home and keep them there." He picked up Ray and was gone.

"Damon," I said quietly, "What exactly did that note say?"

"We need to get back to Elena and Ric." He pulled at my arm and I planted my feet, "Tell me."

"Alexis!"

"No!" I yanked my arm out of his.

"If I tell you will you please start walking?" He asked almost begging.

"Fine." I brushed past him in the direction of the truck.

"Apparently some witch told him, you two would need something from the other in the future but there would have to be some form of trust. It went on to say if you got in his way he wouldn't hesitate to put you down until you were of use to him."

I stopped walking, "You lied to me?"

"Can we do this somewhere there aren't a bunch of zombie hybrids running around?" He snapped but I still didn't budge, "Don't think I won't carry you." He added cocking his eyebrow and I narrowed my eyes at him. He apparently took it as a challenge because he threw me over his shoulder and raced out of the woods. Once we'd reached the truck I hit Damon on the back  _ hard _ , "Put me down, NOW." I growled.

Damon set me on my feet as Elena rushed over to us, "Are you guys ok?" She asked frantically.

"We're fine, get in the car, Elena," Damon replied.

"I'm just so glad you guys aren't dead."

"The night's still young, get in the fucking truck, Elena!" I yelled.

She turned around defeated and climbed in the truck. Damon walked over to Alaric, "Keep an eye on her, we'll be back sometime tomorrow." Ric nodded and walked over to the driver's side. Damon was back by my side, "Do I need to pick you up again?"

"No." I pouted.

He opened my door as we got to his car, I slid into the seat and he walked around getting in, "Now," he said, starting the car, "I was going to tell you, I wanted you to be home a few days before I dropped it on you. Now your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"What's with the sudden opposition to fresh blood?"

I shifted in my seat, "Elena needed all of hers, and Ric drinks Vervain."

"Mmhmm." He said unconvinced and drove in silence for the next half hour, we were getting close to Memphis when I finally broke the silence, "There's a hospital off this exit." Damon didn't respond except to press the accelerator down a little more, speeding up and passing the exit, "Umm hello?" 

"You said you didn't have an issue and I'm just not feeling blood bags. There's a bar down the street from the hotel you need to stop at. I say we snack on a few drunks." He looked over at me and smirked, "Unless you have something you wanna tell me."

I argued with myself until we pulled into the lot of the bar, Damon reached for the handle and I grabbed his other arm, "Wait!" I said urgently, he leaned back in his seat and looked at me, "Please don't make me do this."

"Talk to me, before you left your control was amazing and preferred hunting to blood bags, now you're back and not only did you do a full 180 in that department but now you're even worried about how many bags you drink. What is going on?"

"You know that little voice that tells you to stop?" I asked quietly and Damon nodded, "So Klaus needed me to do this spell, the one to get the list of names. Well, it was a hard spell and I could only get a few at a time so he refused to let me feed from blood bags. He'd send 'willing' people up to my room. I'd feed and compel them and send them on their way. A few days after all that started Klaus let it  _ slip _ that the people I'd left alive he let Stefan finish off. So I started killing them because it was more humane for me to do it than the alternative." I fiddled with my thumbs in my lap and continued, "I had to block out that little voice so that every time I killed someone it didn't tear me apart. And now I'm afraid that I've lost that voice and that I won't be able to stop. I've killed enough people for one summer."

"How many?" He asked, simply.

"52."

"I've told you this once and I'll probably have to tell you a hundred more times, you are a vampire, we live by an entirely different set of rules. What you did was the right thing, and if you don't let it go the guilt will eat you up." He took my hand in his, "I have never let you hurt anyone, can you trust me and let me help you with this?"

I locked eyes with him and nodded.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chicago Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only own my OC. Comments are always welcome 😍 enjoy.

P2c3

  
  


"He's right." Cate's voice wafted over the back seat, I felt myself tense but didn't look towards her. Damon gripped my hand a little tighter, "There's something else, isn't there?"

"Let's just handle one problem at a time." I sighed.

"Yeah because he'll probably think you're crazy when you tell him about the 1000-year-old hybrid haunting your subconscious." Cate taunted.

"Why don't you bring someone out here, I'm really hungry and I don't need the extra temptation." I gave Damon a small smile, "I'll be fine for five minutes."

He kissed my hand and dropped it reaching for the door handle, "I'll meet you around back." I nodded as he got out and headed inside.

I flipped around as soon as the door shut, "You're starting to get really annoying Cate."

"Aww, that hurts. I see how it is now that you're home you don't need me anymore." She smirked holding up her hand and pain shot through my head, "Remember who you're talking to little witch. You're going to be around a long time and if you don't want me popping in for eternity I suggest you get on board." She dropped her hand and the pain stopped. I tried to argue back but she was gone. "Bitch." I hissed. I shoved the door open and walked around to the back of the bar.

It was dark, the only light seemed to be broken, Damon wasn't out yet, I leaned up against the wall and waited. Even though I knew he was coming I still jumped when the back door swung open. "Dinner is served." Damon smiled.

"Do I really have to do this?" I whined.

"No, I've never made you do anything you didn't want to and I'm not about to start now." He looked at the man he'd led outside, "If you really don't want to do this, we can go."

I looked at the guy, the blank expression on his face told me he'd already been compelled not to fight back. I took a breath, "No, you're right."

"I'm sorry what was that?" Damon laughed.

"I'm so glad you find this amusing." I walked up to the man, looking him over. No, I didn't want to do it, I wanted to go raid the hospital. The sparks in my brain going off drowned out those thoughts trading them in for waves of excitement.  _ Don't kill him, don't kill him.  _ I leaned in, I could already taste it, my teeth clicked into place and bit into his neck. I reviled in the pure bliss that came from finally giving in to my hunger. No matter how hard I tried, not killing this guy was completely forgotten. It wasn't until Damon physically pulled me off, I realized I'd almost gone too far.

I staggered back, shrugging away from Damon. I faintly heard him compel the man to go home and sleep it off. "Pidge?" Damon asked quietly.

"I told you I didn't want to do this," I replied looking at my shoes

"Can you try one more thing for me? Please?" He stepped in front of me and lifted my chin, locking his eyes with mine.

"Anyone ever tell you that you don't play fair?"

"Life isn't fair." 

"Boy, don't I know it."

"Wait here." Damon slipped back inside but was back much faster this time. He walked out with a tall blonde who wore the same vacant expression. "Use her wrist." He said walking up behind me, "It'll flow slower and give you extra time to focus."

"Damon-"

"You're not  _ starving  _ anymore it'll be easier."

_ Why does he always have to be right _ , I thought as I picked up the girl's thin wrist and pushed the sleeve of her jacket up. I bit down and of course, Damon  _ was _ right, I wasn't starving in fact I felt almost 100% better after the first guy. I concentrated on her heartbeat, still no conscious telling me to stop but the small flutter her heart made me to let go. I dropped her wrist and wiped off my mouth, compelling her to go home.

"See better," Damon said, throwing his arm over me.

"Let not celebrate yet, I'm not always going to have a babysitter."

"Once being home goes back to being the normal you won't need one." He replied, opening the door of the Camaro, I slid into my seat. Damon got in and pulled out of the parking lot and quickly made it down the street to the hotel. Damon got out of the car walking toward the front door. I followed him in and up to the desk the clerk kept looking at his computer, "Can I help you."

"You could look at me, that would be super helpful." I snapped. He looked up from his computer unamused, "I need to know where Krista from housekeeping is." I said compelling him. He typed a few things into his computer and pointed me in the direction of the elevators, she was cleaning a room on the third floor.

Once the doors closed Damon turned to me and asked, "So how did you manage this?"

"Threw a fit and busted the faucet. Krista came in to clean up the mess, I slipped the book in her cart, then I compelled her to keep it close and safe, to forget about me until she saw me again."

"Slick."

"Well I learned from the master," I smirked as the elevator doors opened. We followed the hall down to the room she was cleaning. I stepped in silently, signaling Damon to stay back. The girl stood up after wiping the wrinkles out of the blanket. When she finally noticed me she jumped back, "You scared me." 

"Where's my book?"

Suddenly her eyes glazed over and she reached into her cart, pulling out a shopping bag and handing it to me. I walked out into the hall, holding up the book, "One down, two to go." 

"Please tell me you don't wanna try for those tonight." He asked as we walked back down the hall.

"God no. Truthfully I just want one boring day, one day where the name Klaus isn't even whispered. Just one day, that was supposed to be today, well yesterday. Until Elena had to turn lunch with my sister into kidnapping."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to pay her back for that."

"I've been mulling over ideas," I smirked, "Unfortunately, most of them are a little too violent for someone that's not a vampire."

Damon let me sleep most of the way back, we were just outside Mystic Falls when I woke up and he asked, "So what's with the journals?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling out the old worn book.

"Why these three, why are they so important."

I shifted nervously in my seat, "I couldn't hide all of them." 

"I wanna play poker with you." He smirked, "I'm serious, what's going on?" He asked as he pulled into the driveway.

"I- uh." I stopped, reaching for the handle, "You're going to need a drink." I pulled the handle opening the door and Damon grabbed my free hand, "What did you do?"

"Not kidding about that drink." I pulled my arm free and walked inside. Damon followed behind me as I filled up two glasses at the bar cart and handed one to him, "Should I sit down too?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No you're just going to stand back up to tell me I'm an idiot… or crazy."

"Stop dragging this out." He huffed as he sat down.

"Ok so you know Klaus bit me and drug that lovey experience out." Damon nodded sipping his drink and I continued, "Well, I hallucinated, _ a lot _ . Awful things, except for one, I saw Cate." I took a huge drink. Damon sat up with his elbows on his knees, looking at me intently. "Cate made everything better when she popped up. I wasn't sick, I could eat, breathing wasn't a chore. I mean you  _ know  _ how painful the whole thing is."

"Unfortunately." He mumbled.

"Well she would leave and it would all start up again, until Klaus figured I'd had enough, and then it all just stopped. Like I said after that I just stopped talking unless I was needed for some magic. Klaus called it a hissy fit." 

"I'm still not understanding what I'm supposed to be mad about."

"Oh it's coming I promise." I took another sip, "So after the whole werewolf bite, I kept seeing Cate, I chalked it up to being lonely. Though now that I think about it hallucinating you would have been  _ way  _ more fun."

"You're stepping around your point."

"I am because when I tell you what happened next you are going to yell. With everything, being alone, being punished when I didn't act the right way, killing all those people, I just wanted to give up. So when my imaginary friend said "I'll get you your freedom, if you'll get me mine," I-"

Damon jumped up from his seat, "Wait what?"

" _ There's _ the yelling."

"What exactly did you do?"

"I thought she was a hallucination." I yelled back, "I didn't know she was real until she popped up yesterday. I get it I fucked up. Cate sent that witch to Klaus, I don't know if what he was told was real or not but I made a deal and she's going to make my life hell until I hold up my end."

"Which is bringing back an immortal, possibly psycho, witchpire from the dead? I thought elementals couldn't do that."

"Well number one, she would only be a witch."

" _ Only," _ Damon huffed.

"And as far as my ability to bring her back, I can't, but everyone loves a loophole."

Damon rolled his eyes. His response, cut off by his phone ringing in his pocket, "This better be good." He hissed into the phone.

_ "Aww, I would've thought having your little witch back home would have helped your attitude." _

"Kathrine," Damon replied, putting the phone on speaker so I didn't actually have to work to eavesdrop. "Where are you?" Damon asked.

_ "Hmm, wouldn't you like to know?" _

" _ You _ called  _ me _ , I assume you want something."

_ "I'm homesick, what's been going on?"  _ Kathrine whined and I rolled my eyes.

"You seem to be all caught up since you knew Alexis was home, Stefan's still running around with Klaus and no one's thought about you since you left."

" _ And what about you, giving up already." _

"We're not giving up, I don't know where he is and apparently we have other important things going on." Damon narrowed his eyes at me, I stared at the floor.

_ "Hmm." _

"You know where they are, don't you? Are you tailing them?"

_ "Let's see, a hybrid that wants me dead and his sidekick who's off the rails, I couldn't be further away _ ."

"Where are they Kathrine?"

_ "Think, deep-dish pizza, and baseball rivalries." _

"Chicago." Damon and I said at the same time. 

_ "Happy hunting,"  _ Kathrine said before the line went dead.

Damon looked at his phone for a moment then back to me, "We're not done with this whole Cate thing."

"I figured."

"Go pack, I'll call your sister."

"Why, I can just go to Pensacola, while you guys take care of Stefan in Chicago," I argued.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight, at least not until you quit making terrible decisions. Go, I'll be up in a minute."

"No."

"Alexis we don't have time-"

"You're right we don't, I'll go with you to Chicago, but this doesn't get brought up around Elena and whether you help me or not when we get back I'm going to get those other books."

"You are so-, sometimes I just-" he clenched his fists at his sides and grit his teeth, "Please, please, go get cleaned up, and throw some clothes for us in a bag, while I call your sister."

He hadn't agreed, and I fought every fiber of my being to point it out. I turned around and headed upstairs doing exactly what he'd asked, throwing some clothes in a bag, and cleaning myself up. I was back downstairs in less than ten minutes. Damon was by the door and took the bag leading me out to the car.

"Is she here right now?" He asked, getting into the car?

"No. But it's a nine and a half-hour drive, she might get bored." I sighed, sinking into the seat.

After picking up Elena, who was full of questions as to how we got the information about Stefan. An hour outside of Mystic Falls I noticed a book sitting on the dashboard, "What's this?" I asked, picking it up.

"Brought it for Elena," he replied looking into the rearview mirror, "It's Stefan's from the last time he was in Chicago." 

"I'm not going to read his journal, that's private." She replied slumping back against the seat.

Damon took the journal from me and flipped through some pages and handed it back, "Read that." He said pointing.

"March 12, 1922

I've blacked out days, I've woken up in stranger's blood, in places I don't recognize, with women I don't remember." I read slowly.

Damon faked a gasp, "Stefan's not a virgin? I'm shocked."

Elena leaned up, taking the journal, "You're one to talk," she spat at Damon, "I'm sure if you wrote it all down, your story would be pretty horrific."

"And that is precisely why I  _ don't."  _ He replied looking in the mirror, "No sense in reliving it." The last comment directed at me.

Elena sat back flipping through the pages. My phone buzzed in my pocket, I pulled it out and saw a text from Tyler,  **I still haven't heard from Caroline and she's not answering my calls. Have you seen her?**

I turned around in my seat and Elena looked up at me, "Have you seen or heard from Caroline?" I asked.

"No, Tyler still hasn't seen her."

I shook my head, "We should be worried right it's not like her to just take off?"

Elena pulled her phone out and started texting, I let Tyler know I'd do what I could but I wasn't home and to let me know if he'd found her.

"Page 9, about halfway down." My ears perked up hearing Cate in the back seat, "but you're not going to like it." I didn't turn around but I leaned down pulling her journal out of my bag.

"What are you doing?" Damon whispered so Elena wouldn't hear.

"Cate's being  _ helpful."  _ I replied just as quiet. I flipped through the pages, finding what she was talking about and not liking my options, "Elena do you have anything from Caroline?"

"No, we stopped the whole friendship jewelry in like 6th grade." 

"Awesome," I huffed. Reaching back into my bag pulling out a small mirror, "I need some of your blood." I raised his eyebrow at me, "literally like a drop, your blood turned Caroline and her blood turned me so unless you have some momento from your brief time together that's the best I got."

"Is this a locator spell?"

" _ Kinda."  _ I said nervously.

"Straight answers or I'm not helping." He snapped, his eyes never leaving the road.

"It will link me to Caroline, I'll be able to see where she is." 

"Is this like when you linked yourself to Bonnie?" 

"No."  _ Much more intense, probably a terrible idea. I seem to be great at those lately _

"No one's seen Caroline since the party." Elena announced from the back seat.

"If I had another option available Damon I'd use it, please help me with this."

He looked at me for a second and then back to the road holding out his hand, I ran my nail across his palm, making a small cut and letting just a drop fall to the mirror. I repeated the process for myself, " _ ligame ao meu faro." _

I immediately felt sick,  _ vervain.  _ I closed my eyes and tried to will Caroline to open hers,  _ come on Caroline wake up.  _ I could hear things, a heavy door being opened, footsteps. Caroline opened her eyes, I could just barely make out the stone brick walls. Light-filled the room and both Caroline and I screamed.

My eyes snapped open and I could feel the skin under my jacket almost boiling. Damon pulled off the road as I ripped off my jacket. The pain stopping and my skin healing, I turned to Elena, "Call Tyler, tell him to find Liz." I grit my teeth as another wave hit, focusing on what I saw in that short moment, "small brick walls, she's in a chair in the middle, the light came from high up, maybe underground." I took a deep breath as the pain faded away again, "and the door it sounded heavy, like the ones at the boarding house."

Elena reached her hand over the seat and onto my, now healed, shoulder, "Elena don't." I shrugged away. Another shot of pain flew over my back somehow feeling worse than the last two, "Snap my neck!" I yelled. "It's too much, I can't-" I cried. Damon leaned over with an apologetic look on his face before doing what I'd asked.

**Damon's POV**

"Should we move her back here?" Elena asked from the back.

I looked over at Alexis, leaned on the door, "You got the strength to snap her neck until they find Caroline or nightfall?" I asked a little harsher than necessary.

She shrank back in her seat and called Tyler, making sure to tell him to call her as soon as they found Caroline. It wasn't long before Liz called asking for the same information. It gave her a few places to check but nothing solid. About halfway through our trip, with no new information I had to snap Alexis's neck again. She'd jolted awake screaming. Thankfully there wouldn't be a third, Tyler had called and said they found her. Apparently Carol Lockwood figured out what Caroline was and called her father the details after that we're a little fuzzy but I'd talk to Liz about when we got home.

**Alexis's POV**

I groaned as I moved my head, my neck extremely sore, opening my eyes, I looked over at Damon, waiting for the torment to start all over.

"Elena there's a black bag back there," he said looking into the mirror, "toss a blood bag to your sister, so she doesn't try to eat you." He still hadn't looked at me.

"Thanks," I said quietly, taking the bag from her, and trying to drink it inconspicuously.

"I am so pissed at you." Damon hissed quietly.

I ignored him and looked back at Elena, "I take it they found her."

"Yeah, thanks to you. Tyler said the place Bill was keeping her hadn't been used since the early 1900s."

I turned back around picking up Cate's journal off the floor, "Still mad. I saved her life," I whispered.

He snatched the journal from me, "Almost pisses me off more." He growled loud enough for Elena to hear.

"Ok what's going on with you two?"

"Nothing." We both snapped.

"Is it about Stefan, did something happen you don't want to tell me about?"

I gagged in my seat, "No, and believe it or not, not everything has to do with you and Stefan." I snapped, taking another sip from the bag and snatching the journal back as Damon parked the car. I sighed and turned around, "I'm sorry, that was shitty."

"Follow me ladies," Damon said, getting out of the car.

I closed the door after Elena got out, "What are we doing here?" I asked as we walked into an old brick building.

"This was Stefan's apartment when he was terrorizing the Windy City," Damon replied.

"Stefan could live anywhere and he chose this place?" Elena, looked around with a disgusted look on her face.

Damon smirked, turning down a hallway on the third floor, "There used to be an all-girls Catholic school down the street, closed down for attendance issues. Weird." He shrugged as he stopped in front of a door.

"I know what you're trying to do." Elena said, crossing her arms, "You're not going to scare me into going back."

Damon looked at me, "Wanna be useful?" He pointed towards the doorknob.

I waved my hand and rolled my eyes, "Why didn't you just break it?" I asked as we stepped inside.

"We're going for subtlety." He stepped to the center of the first room and said, "Welcome to Stefan's second personality home."

Elena walked around, looking over the room, "He obviously hasn't been here yet."

"Oh the tour's not over, we're just now getting to the good part."

I hated that he seemed to be enjoying this, just because he was upset with me didn't mean he could just be an ass, "Stop tormenting her." I said calmly, picking up a book on one of the tables.

Damon ignored me and walked over to a shelf in the kitchen. Sliding his hand down the side, his eyes lit up as I heard a click and the shelf swung away from the wall. Damon leaned in pulling a cord and turning on the light. Elena and I walked over. The shelves were lined with old bottles, I assumed were booze, a room like that wouldn't have been uncommon in the '20s. A fact Elena decided to point out, "So he hid his alcohol." 

"Look closer," Damon stepped out ushering Elena in. Her face went from annoyed to terrified, eyes wide staring at the wall. I peeked inside and saw what had her shaken up. The list of names was at least 200 people long.

"Are these?" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

"Mmhmm." Damon nodded.

Elena walked out of the closet, Damon cut the light off and closed it back up, "Still handling it?" He asked.

"Leave her alone." I snapped, "I'm sure you weren't feeding the homeless and fighting for women's rights in the 20's"

"No I wasn't, Stefan was a ripper douche but Chicago is a big place I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own." He replied, still wearing his stupid smirk.

I made a gagging noise and he rolled his eyes and walked towards the door, "Where are you going?" Elena asked following behind him.

"Stefan's old stomping ground."

"We're going with."

He turned around, "No you're both staying here, put your wonder twin minds together, come up with a real plan and I'll be back when I find him." He didn't even look at me before walking out.

Elena looked at me, "Seriously, what is going on with you two?"

"Nothing," I repeated, looking around again. 

"It's obviously something."

I sighed turning around, "He's not a fan of me putting myself in a position to get hurt. Me lying to him in the car added to an already huge pile of shit going on between us."

"You just got back." She replied confused.

"I'm good like that." I shrugged. I took a step and froze, I heard voices on the stairs, "Elena!" I hissed. Her head popped up and I held my finger to my lips, telling her to be quiet then pointing to the hidden room. She nodded, rushing over and quickly closing the door behind her. I slipped underneath the bed and muttered, " _ Invisique _ ." Silently praying that the dust in the air would cover the smell of the cloaking spell.

My blood felt like ice running through my veins as Klaus kicked open the door and both he and Stefan walked through, "Charming little homestead. Do you feel that? Is anyone here?"

  
  


_ Shit, shit, shit. _ I watched their feet move around the room and heard Stefan speak, "This place has been empty for decades people must break in all the time."

_ Don't smell me, don't smell me. _

"Your friend, Liam Grant," Klaus stated, "The one who drank his wife's blood, I wondered why you wanted to know his name. Then you told me your secret, your little ritual."

_ The closet, shit. _ I waited ready to pounce as I heard Klaus walk over to the closet, sliding out from under the bed, keeping low to the floor and out of the way. As long as they didn't touch me I would go unnoticed.

"Writing it down," Stefan said quietly.

"To relive the kill, over and over again," Klaus smirked and pulled open the closet ushering Stefan inside. Stefan stepped in and I froze just on the other side of the door. Klaus walked back towards the front room and said, "Believe me now?"

Stefan looked towards the list of names and Elena, "Look what I found."

_ No,  _ I thought, my heart breaking for Elena. As I was about to drop him and haul ass with her, Stefan pulled out a bottle of liquor. I moved away as Klaus walked up, Stefan closed the closet and handed the bottle over, "My favorite," Klaus smirked again, "Now let's go find someone to pair it with.

As they walked back into the hall, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. I pulled the closet door open and Elena stepped out.

"Are you ok?" I asked as she sat on the bed, she nodded pulling out Stefan's journal and flipping through the pages again.

I called Damon, and let his voicemail know he needed to get his ass back now. Elena clearly not wanting to talk about what just happened kept reading the journal as I stepped outside to keep an eye out. Sliding down the wall I pulled out Cate's book.

About an hour later I heard Damon walking up the stairs, stopping in front of me, he crouched down, "What are you doing out here?"

I didn't look up from my book, "Klaus and Stefan stopped by." I replied simply.

He lifted my chin, making me look at him, "When?" 

"Right before I called, we're fine." I turned my head, pulling away from his hand. Damon stood up and went to push the door, "Just because you're mad at me, doesn't mean you get to be a dick to her." I said quietly.

He didn't even acknowledge I'd said anything, walking back into Stefan's apartment. I stood up following behind him. Elena jumped off the bed, "Finally." She sighed.

He threw a bag down on the bed, "Get dressed." He said walking into the kitchen.

"I just told you that Kalus and Stefan stopped by and you're worried about what she's wearing."

"You were here. She was fine." Damon pulled the closet open pulling out a bottle he took a sip and handed it to me, "Elena is attempting to bring Stefan back, might as well not be all gross and road-trippy."

Elena looked up from the bag, "Does that mean you know where he is?"

"Yes with Klaus, Alexis, and I will distract him and you can talk to Stefan, but you're only going to get about five minutes before he rips my head off and puts Alexis in a box. I need you to tell me you can do this."

"I can do this," Elena assured him.

"You sure you want my help with Klaus, maybe I should stay outside and make sure Elena is ok."

"He won't hurt me, if he was going to hurt me he would have just told Klaus I was in that closet."

I was mentally cursing her for not getting the hint.

  
  


"You know the plan?" Damon asked me as he parked the car, "Stay out of the way and keep Klaus in the bar." He nodded and got out followed by Elena. They headed to the back of the bar while I slid on the front. I saw Klaus and Stefan sitting at the bar, talking like old friends. It made me angry, between the people and the music I was too far away to hear anything. I started to move closer and felt my phone buzz in my pocket, I slid it out seeing a text from Damon,  **Don't even think about it.**

I rolled my eyes and looked to the other side of the bar and saw him smirking at me. I stuck my tongue out before looking back at the bar and Stefan was standing up and heading in his direction. Damon disappeared for a few minutes. Just as the bartender called out it was closing time, he popped back up and I watched as Damon made his way through the patrons that were leaving,  _ please don't kill him,  _ I thought as Kalus finally spotted Damon.

"I see they just let any old riff-raff in here," Klaus yelled out.

"Oh Hunny I have been called way worse," Damon replied, reaching the bar.

"You see I promised your brother I wouldn't kill you but really how many chances should I give you."

"Give me my brother back and you'll never have to see me again."

Klaus turned around and locked eyes with me, "Come on out little witch."

"Stay there," Damon growled.

"I'll make you a deal Damon, you can take your brother home, Alexis stays with me."

"We both know that's not going to happen." Damon scoffed, "Besides I'm way more fun than either of them." He threw back the shot on the bar.

Klaus snatched up Damon pinning him to the wall. I vamped over slamming myself into Klaus, he dropped Damon and pounced on me, his hand wrapping around my throat, "Why won't my hybrids work?! What did you do?!" He screamed in my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damon with a chair leg, I threw my hand up holding him in place while gasping my answer to Klaus, "I don't know."

Pain shot through my head, Klaus let go of me, pulling at his hair and Damon fell to his knees. The bartender walked out, pointing towards the door, "Not in my bar, take it outside."

Klaus stood up still hovering over me and looked at Damon, "You don't need to negotiate for your brother's release, after a decades-long bender he won't want to leave." Klaus's head snapped back on my direction, "It's a pity you were so difficult from the start. Since I'm the only one who knows what it's like to truly be one of a kind. The amazing life that comes with not only being top of the food chain but vampire royalty." I scoffed and rolled my eyes, Klaus smiled and headed towards the door, pausing before walking outside, "One day you're going to let that side of you take full control and you won't want to make it stop. Come find me when you do."

I didn't wait for Damon before walking out the back door, he stopped me as I walked across the parking lot. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder while I called Caroline explaining why she probably felt like she was being choked by an invisible person. I let her know that we would be unlinked by morning. While she was grateful that I saved her life she was not exactly thrilled with the aftereffects.

I walked over to the car and saw Elena in the back seat, fiddling with her necklace, I turned around and looked at Damon, he wore the same confused expression I did. He opened the door and I climbed in the back. "Can we just go please?" She said as Damon got in the car.

I put my arm around her shoulder and tried to pull her to me, she fought for a second before finally letting me hug her. "I don't know what happened but I'm sorry." 

She eventually fell asleep leaning on me, I slowly moved to let her lay on the seat and climbed into the front. "I could drive if you want to take a break," I said quietly.

"We might end up in Mexico, with your decision-making skills." He snapped back.

"Stop. I don't deny that I make outrageous choices. Those choices while not always the best option, they are always for someone else. Do you know how sick I am of doing shit for everyone else when it always seems to screw me in the end? I mean look at you, I gave up everything to save you-"

"I didn't ask you to." He snapped again.

"So what I was supposed to just let you die?"

"You were supposed to stay! You were supposed to trust me to help you, given those two options I would have stayed."

"You don't get it."

"What's not to get?"

"What Klaus said tonight, I've thought something similar for months. If I turn it off I don't know that I'll ever want to turn it back on." Elena stirred on the back seat, "Can we just continue this when she's not around."

I took his silence as a yes, unfortunately, that silence extended to any subject. Once we dropped Elena off he still didn't talk. Walking into the boarding house I finally snapped, "So not only are you pissed with me over the Cate thing but you're holding a grudge because I left."

He whipped around facing me, "Of course I'm still upset, part of me even hates you a little bit! Then you won't tell me the whole story, just the little pieces you think I need to hear or I make you tell me. Or hell you give me a short answer and then I have to watch you deal with the consequences."

"You want the whole story fine, information for information. You tell me why you flipped your switch and I'll tell you about my summer in hell."

"How is that fair?"

"Life isn't fair." I threw his words back at him, I was done. Clearly, both of us needed a minute to calm down. I turned to head back out the front door.

"Where are you going?"

"I told you once we got back from Chicago I was going to get the other books."

"How exactly do you plan on getting there?"

"I'll steal  _ my  _ truck back from Jeremy." I reached for the door handle and Damon grabbed my arm spinning me around and pinning me against the door.

"I'm not just going to let you willingly put yourself in the middle of everything again."

I locked eyes with him, my heart breaking as the next bad decision rolled through my head, "I never told you about the deal I made with Cate, as far as you know I just needed a little space after the incident with Klaus in the bar. You're going to let me go and turn around, once I'm gone you won't even remember I compelled you."

He dropped my hands and turned away from me, I slipped outside, whiping my face, tears for later because when he finds out what I did he'll probably never forgive me.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Secrets don't make friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only own my OC. Thank you for the new Kudos. Please feel free to leave a comment they really make my day.

P2c4

**I only own my OC. Hello everyone I wanted to say thank you for the comments and the new follows. I truly appreciate them.**

  
  
  


After leaving the boarding house I ran through the woods coming to a sudden stop about a mile in. "Fuck!" I yelled out punching a tree a couple of times. I heard a small laugh behind me. Cate leaning against a tree, smirking, "This isn't funny." I snapped.

"Yes, it is. I mean, it is to me." She slowly moved off of the tree and walked towards me, "It means I was right."

"Right about what?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Making sure Damon wasn't your sire."

"Why is that so important?"

"Because I have no doubt in my mind there would have been a sire bond, all he would have had to say is no and you would have put up with me forever. Probably wouldn't have even gotten here, you two would be hiding, after ruining the sacrifice." She twisted her hand and I felt my ankle snap from underneath me. I yelled as I fell to the ground Cate standing over me, "We don't have a lot of time so stop feeling sorry for yourself and get, my, books."

I set my ankles gritting my teeth, "I swear to God, once you're free you better get as far away from me as possible. Because if I ever see you again I'll send you straight back."

"Big words, little witch." She smiled and disappeared.

I picked myself up and headed towards my house, pushing the anger and guilt down into the already overflowing pile I was refusing to deal with. Once I got to my house I climbed up onto the roof and opened Jeremy's window. I slipped in and laid down on his bed, "Psst." I whispered, "Wake up." I said a little louder.

"Go away." He groaned, covering his head with his pillow.

  
  


"I need my truck." I sat up crossing my legs and poked him in the side.

"Ow quit!" Jeremy slapped my hand, "Take Jenna's car."

"It's  _ my _ truck," I growled.

He sat up looking at me confused, "Where are you going?"

"A short little road trip should be back tomorrow morning if I leave soon."

"Can I come?"

"On one condition." I replied, raising my eyebrow, "You can't tell anyone where we're going. Not Bonnie, Elena, especially not Damon. Deal?"

"Deal, I need to talk to you anyway. Let me just get ready and I'll meet you downstairs." 

I headed down and grabbed a garbage bag, a little afraid of what Jeremy may have done to my truck. Unfortunately, I couldn't have imagined the amount of energy drink cans I found rolling around in the back seat. Jeremy walked up a few minutes later and dropped the keys in my hand, "You're gross, you know that?" I said as I walked over to Elena's truck with the trash bag.

"What are you doing?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Oh, you didn't hear? Our  _ lovely _ sister drugged me, threw me in a trunk, and hauled my ass off to werewolf country." I started dumping the contents of the bag in her front seat, saving half for the back. "This is the first bit of payback I've come up with. Other than you know, killing her " I finished by throwing the trash bag on the pile in the back seat, "Now her truck can smell like a frat boy threw up too."

  
  


We were a few miles out of town when Cate popped up in the back seat, "I had no clue you could be so petty." My eyes popped up to the rearview mirror as Jeremy jumped in his seat, "What the fuck!" He yelled, turning around.

"You can see her?" I looked at him shocked.

"Yes, I can see her! More importantly, why does she look just like you?!"

"My eyes are brown thank you, and  _ she _ cut all of her hair off," Cate replied.

Jeremy ignored her and looked back at me, "Is this like a Kathrine thing?"

"I'm not a Petrova, no."

"So how-?"

"We don't know." I answered quietly, "Why can he see you?"

"You're that boy the Bennet witch brought back from the dead?" Cate asked, smirking.

"When did you die? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"It happened the night you left with Klaus," Jeremy replied.

Cate was still smiling in the back seat, "You have no idea what a tremendous help you've been." She said to Jeremy before disappearing.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Who knows she's bat shit crazy. Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, "You dying?"

"Sort of." He shifted nervously in his seat, "I've been seeing Vikki and Anna."

"That explains why you didn't want to tell Bonnie. When did all this start?"

"Not that long ago. It started with just these weird feelings like I wasn't alone. The night of your birthday I saw Vikki and then Anna told me not to listen to Vikki and now I haven't seen either of them since."

"Have you told anyone?"

"Just Matt, he wanted to see Vikki so I tried something I found on the internet, it didn't work."

I smacked my hand against my head, "You know two legitimate witches and you try shit off the internet. Dumb." I shook my head, "I'll see what I can figure out but until then no more Google okay?"

* * *

I pulled into the parking garage after dropping Jeremy off, I didn't want him to be here in case something went wrong. I was thankful for that as soon as the elevator doors opened. There was a man in the hall with his eyes down, standing near the desk. He gave me an off feeling. 

I walked up the desk and asked for Laura from the kitchens, the woman behind the desk pointed down the hall opposite of the elevator. As I started walking I noticed the man from the desk walking a few steps behind me.  _ Idiot,  _ I thought. I zipped behind him, my arm wrapped around his neck. I snapped the handle on one of the doors, dragging us inside quickly, "You mutter anything that sounds like a spell, I'll rip your tongue out. Why are you following me?"

He choked and sputtered against my arm, I bit into my wrist shoving it in his mouth. Once I was satisfied I pulled my arm back and let him go.

"Any funny shit and I'll snap your neck," I warned, stalking around him.

The man stayed quiet with fear in his eyes.

"I like this Alexis," Cate laughed from the bed, "Angry, ruthless, willing to do what it takes to get the job done."

I kept my attention on the witch in front of me, "Why are you following me?" I asked again.

"You'll have to kill me." He spat back.

"Now what, little witch?" Cate asked, walking up behind the man.

"When you wake up, you're going to be super tempted to find me, don't. Give me a call, we'll chat then." I smirked and snapped his neck. I picked up his phone putting my number in it and dropped it in front of him.

"What is it that made the real monster in you make an appearance?" Cate looked down at the man and then back at me, "Hmm,"

"I'm protecting the people I love. Jeremy is here and if this guy followed me all the way from Mystic Falls then he knows about you and really, no one needs to know about you." I turned around and walked out of the room and headed into the kitchens.

Cate was waiting for me when I walked out, "The big one is my personal favorite. My first grimoire, all of my best spells are in there."

"About that, Elements can't raise the dead, so how exactly am I supposed to? I know you said there was a loophole but wouldn't it be beneficial if I knew what that was."

"It would, there is something big brewing on this side. I wasn't sure exactly what until your brother said he could see me."

"What does Jeremy have to do with this?"

"Nothing, except the spell that was used to bring him back weakened the line between the living and the dead. Someone on this side is manipulating that to their advantage. Whatever they are trying to use it for requires big magic, and it's growing every day. There is a spell in there that will let you piggyback off of the spirit magic giving you enough channeled power to thin the veil and let me walk right through to your side."

"And then you'll be gone."

"Like I never happened."

I compelled the man at the front desk to keep people away from the room my stalker was in and then headed out to pick up Jeremy. He was aggravated when I picked him up, mostly because I drove him all the way out here and then left him when things got exciting, only to drive right back home.

* * *

"So what was all this for anyway?" He finally asked as we returned to Mystic Falls.

"Can't tell you that," I replied.

"Why not?"

"Because the last time I told someone it didn't end very well, so to avoid all of that I'm keeping this to myself. You, however, need to tell Bonnie about Anna and Vikki. Leave Cate out of it, she's my problem."

Jeremy agreed. He held out his hands for the keys and I laughed, "Oh no, I just got the smell of gross, teenage boy out of it." I stuck the keys into my pocket as he got out of the truck.

I reached for the handle, my phone vibrated in my pocket, I didn't recognize the number.  _ That'll be my minion,  _ "Ready to talk?" I asked confidently as I answered.

_ "Oh, little witch I always have time for a chat with you."  _ Klaus's voice came over the line and my blood ran cold.

"Some sire bond." I snapped.

_ "Oh had he woken up before he was found I'm sure you would have been his first call. But see when Travis didn't check in I sent someone looking for him." _

_ " _ What do you want Klaus?" 

_ "What is it you want _ ? _ What had you running back to Pensacola _ ?"

"I guess that's for me to know and you to dot, dot, dot," I said as I hung up the phone. I turned it off and slipped it into my pocket before heading inside.

I followed the smell of chili to the Kitchen. "Time for the Annual Founder's Day chili nonsense?" I asked walking in.

Damon was sitting at the table with Ric, Elena slammed her spoon down and stared at me with an angry expression, "What the fuck Alexis?"

I rolled my eyes reaching into the fridge and grabbing a water, "Oh god what did I supposedly do now?"

"Umm let's see my truck, oh, and the fact that you and Jeremy just  _ took off _ ."

"Your truck was payback for Tennessee, as far as Jeremy is concerned, I only wanted my truck, he asked to come with."

"And as  _ the _ adult, you should have said no."

"You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm not, Alexis danger seems to follow you, what if he got hurt?"

"He clearly didn't, he's upstairs, alive, plus he had his ring. How irresponsible do you think I am?"

"Well considering you took off with Klaus, pretty Damn." Damon chimed in from behind me. I turned an eye and raised an eyebrow,  _ How much of that fight does he remember?" _

"Well seeing as I'm the source of everyone's aggression, I'm going to go." 

Elena stepped around the island, "No please don't go, I'm sorry. I overreacted, I know you wouldn't let anything happen to him. I'm in over my head here and I volunteered to make both chili and a cake. Caroline is late and these two just keep laughing at me." She pointed towards Damon and Alaric.

"We're not laughing at you, it's constructive criticism. I don't understand why you want to bring chili to a potluck anyway, everyone brings chili." Damon laughed from the table.

I rolled my eyes and started pulling out everything I needed, "Our family always makes chili." 

"It's an old family recipe," Elena added.

"I knew your old family and trust me they made sucky chili," Damon smirked.

"Help or leave." I snapped. 

"I'm supervising."

"Yeah, the pain in my ass," I mumbled back as I turned on the mixer.

"I heard that," Damon replied annoyed.

"You were meant to," I smirked back.

Damon's retort was cut off by a knock on the door, "Can you two stop." Elena said, wiping off her hands. She walked out into the hallway and I concentrated on the cake, trying to ignore Damon and Alaric talking at the table. 

"I brought you a present." Caroline chirped from the archway.

I looked up as Bonnie walked into the kitchen, "Is it returnable?" I laughed.

"That's just mean." Bonnie pouted.

"I only tease with love." I smirked, "I really did miss you." I walked around the counter and gave her a hug, "You doing ok?" She asked quietly. 

"No, but that's a story for a different day," I whispered back before stepping away.

"Well now that Blondie is here and I'm sure she can follow a recipe, Alexis I need to talk to you," Damon said standing up from the table.

"Well, we've been making this cake together since we were 9 so I think I've got it covered," Caroline smirked, switching places with me. 

I followed Damon out onto the porch and sat on the swing, pulling my knees up, "I don't wanna fight."

  
  


"Too bad." He sat down next to me.

"Really Damon I don't have it in me, I get it your mad, I made a shitty decision. To be fair it was a huge one that I had to make in a super short amount of time." I hugged my knees a little tighter, "If I could go back and change it I would but I can't, so be mad, hate me. If that's what you need to do then fine but I just can't fight with you. I've got all this hate and guilt and epic sadness all shoved into this small little box and it's ready to explode." 

"You can't just take off."

"I know and I won't. It's just been one thing after another since I got back and I just-"

"Needed space," Damon finished, and I nodded quietly.

"For almost a year I've been pulled one way or another and this place is still utter chaos. If in a couple of days you still wanna scream and yell then by all means please." I looked at Damon who seemed to not know what to say.

"You know I had this big thing planned out and you ruined it."

"I seem to be great at that these days."

Damon got off the swing and stood in front of me, "Quit feeling sorry for yourself, get up."

I looked up, "What?"

"If we're not fighting then I have something to do. So your choices are come with me and possibly watch me torcher Bill Forbes, or stay here and play Betty crocker."

"Oddly enough, the idea of someone else being in pain kinda cheers me up." I held my hand out and Damon pulled me off the swing, "Lead the way." I said waving my hand out in front of us.

"You just keep upping that crazy level, huh?"

"Keeps you on your toes," I smirked.

* * *

We pulled up to the town square and met Liz at her car, "Caroline mentioned you rolled back onto town." She smiled at me.

"Like a bad penny," I replied.

"Thank you for helping us find her."

I nodded still a little bitter about being shot in the chest. Liz turned her attention to Damon, "So let me get this straight. The Mayor called your gay ex-husband to torcher your vampire daughter?" He asked as we headed towards the jail.

"Yes, I've had him locked up to get the vervain out of his system. Carol and I are on the same page now, keeping the kids safe as well as the town. I was hoping you could, you know."

"Kill him," Damon replied with a smirk.

"NO, he's Caroline's father."

"Let's not forget he's also a royal douche bag," I added.

"Just because we all get along doesn't mean I'm an advocate for your  _ lifestyle." _

"Is that what you told him when you two got divorced," Damon asked and I burst out into laughter, quickly getting it back under control before we walked down into the cellar of the jail. 

The damp, musty smell, and the walls from my vision sent shivers down my spine. As Liz opened the door and looked at Damon, "Check him for vervain first."

"More vampires Liz?" Bill groaned looking up from the chair, his eyes panned from Damon over to me. He smirked, "Heh, if your daddy could see you now."

"I'm sure he's rolling in his grave as we speak." I snapped from the doorway.

"He'd drive a stake right through your heart."

"Well too bad that wouldn't kill me, ask Liz she's already taken a shot, three wooden bullets to the heart and here I stand," I replied proudly, the sheriff shifted nervously behind me.

"You decided to run down this path and drug Caroline with you, I see."

"I know everyone always thinks  _ I'm  _ the bad influence but shockingly enough Caroline turned me." I was having too much fun with this, which I realized as Bill's face turned to disgust.

Bill turned his attention back to Liz, "You shouldn't have brought them here."

"It's for the best Bill." She replied sadly.

Damon stepped forward, "So, I hear you're into that whole daddy-daughter torcher thing."

"I was trying to help her," Bill said, not breaking eye contact.

"Yes, cause hours of feeling like you're burning to death from the outside in is super helpful." I spat.

"Hey spiteful one," Damon called out, "wanna check him for vervain?"

"No," I replied, "Caroline would be pretty upset if I killed him."

  
  


Damon shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward, taking a bite out of Bill before quickly pulling back, "Vervain free." Damon crouched down in front of Bill, "So what exactly makes you think you can change the nature of a vampire?"

"The mind is a powerful tool. It can be trained and retrained."

"You're right, you know I happen to like mind control myself." He grabbed Bill's face and locked eyes, "You will leave town immediately and the only thing about this little trip you'll remember is you came to take your daughter back to school shopping."

I watched as Damon stood up smirking, I walked over adding a little compulsion of my own, "If you ever come back with intentions on hurting not just Caroline but any of us, I feed you my blood and snap your neck, myself." I stood up, walking up the stairs and outside, waiting while Damon talked to Liz.

"That was a little dark," Damon said as he walked out, "Where did that come from?"

"Bill has always been an ass, he and my dad were really good friends before he met his new husband."

"That's it?"

"It killed Caroline when he left Liz, they were really close, we were best friends when all that happened. Not to mention he loved pointing out how I didn't meet founding family standards with my dad." I sighed, "So I stand by what I said, if he comes back I'll turn him into the thing he hates the most." I shrugged as we walked back across the street to Damon's car.

"Remind me, we need to work off some of that aggression."

"Can it be dirty?" I laughed, getting into the car.

"I mean, it can be." He smirked back.

After a quick shower at the boarding house, I changed into one of my favorite t-shirt dresses and flats. I took a second to switch my phone back on, only to see one message from the same unknown number from this morning;  **You're playing a dangerous game, little girl.**

_ Don't I know it.  _ I thought to myself. I saved the number and then headed downstairs to meet Damon.

It only took us a few minutes to get to the Lockwood's. I rushed off to find Elena and everyone else while Damon looked for Alaric.

I found Elena and Caroline talking on one of the benches towards the outside of the yard, the way they were huddled showed they didn't want to be overheard, "Hey," I said, taking a seat on the bench next to them.

"Hey," They both replied as Bonnie walked up, grimoire in hand, and sat down.

"Whoa, bringing out the big book what did I miss?"

"My necklace just burned the crap out of me and shocked Bonnie earlier," Elena explained.

Bonnie pulled out her book and held up the necklace, I turned towards her and asked, "Can I see it?" She handed it over to me and I examined it for the first time, "I've seen this symbol somewhere."

"Well, she's been wearing the necklace for like a year." Caroline pointed out.

"No, I mean recently and not on this."

Bonnie flipped through the pages of her book, "I have an identification spell that might tell me the magic that affected the necklace." She took the necklace and read over the spell, "It's going to take a few minutes so make sure no one is coming." 

We nodded and all kept an eye on everything, "Caroline can we talk later?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

I looked at Elena, who looked like she'd do anything to hear what I wanted to tell Caroline, "Vampire stuff." I mumbled, hoping Caroline would drop it, and thankfully she did. Not because she didn't want to pry but because Bonnie gasped, "You guys." The necklace floated up to eye level and began spinning around.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Caroline hissed looking towards the party.

"I'm not doing anything, it has its own magic." It spun around for a couple more seconds before dropping back on the book, "Can I hang on to this? I'd like to look into it more with fewer eyes." She explained nodding her head towards the party.

"Yeah," Elena replied, "I don't really want to wear it if it's going to burn me."

"Let me know what you find please," I added as Bonnie got up walking away.

"So distract me." Elena said suddenly, "What happened with Damon on the porch?"

"Seriously?" I asked.

"He was pretty pissed you just left." Caroline leaned forward suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Even more pissed you dragged Jeremy along." Elena pointed out.

"Well I hate to disappoint but nothing happened." I leaned back crossing my arms.

Caroline laughed, "You two live on the end of each other's nerves and just expect us to believe  _ nothing _ happened?"

"I don't know what to tell you, I asked him if we could just pause the impending argument for a couple of days and he agreed." I stood up, trying to get as far away from this conversation as possible, "We may slightly enjoy driving each other crazy but even we have limits."  _ I may have hurdled over all of them the other day. _

I walked across the grass, weaving through the guests. I walked up to the table full of food, snagging a couple of strawberries I walked over to Damon and Alaric, "What are you two plotting over here?" I asked walking up.

"Just talking about the fact that these little parties are so the council can have their secret backroom meetings and not be noticed," Damon replied.

"You realize you're on the council." 

"So are you." He smirked back.

"Whoa, whoa, I never agreed to all of that." 

"Sucks to be you, the Gilbert's need representation, your brother isn't old enough and your sister already said no, we voted while you were gone. Congratulations."

Ric cleared his throat, "So now there are  _ two _ vampires on a town council designed to keep vampires out of town?"

"You can have my seat." I offered.

"Don't sound so disappointed Ric, it's a good thing, accountability and all." Damon waved his hand.

Liz stepped outside, "Damon, the mayor just called a council meeting." She nudged her head towards the door. Damon smirked at me and hooked his arm through mine, leading the way inside.

  
  


I sat on a chair in the back, zoning out. This meeting was pointless, Carol, Liz, and Damon lying through their teeth the problem seemed to be over and we should get back to normal. I ignored the looks I got from other council members, no doubt they always expected Elena or Jeremy to be here.

When the meeting was over I stayed behind waiting on Damon, more than ready to go home. I was about to go wait by the car when Bill walked in, "Do you think everyone on the council is clueless or just stupid?" He asked walking towards Damon and the others.

"Must be smarter than you," I growled from behind him.

"Not here," Damon said looking at me.

"Wouldn't want to cause a scene would you Alexis?" Bill said facing me for a moment and then turning to the others, "The council has clearly been compromised, which I am willing to overlook and keep quiet, however, I have a few conditions. I'll be in charge of the council from now on, you two may keep your seats to keep up appearances. We will also be looking at putting vervain in the water supply. It'll keep you honest."

"Why?" I asked suddenly.

"So you can't treat this town as your personal buffet."

"Yeah, I got that. Why would you let us stay on the council?"

"Kicking you off stirs up more questions than answers."

"Guess we've got some things to think about," Damon spoke up setting down his drink glass. His fingers wrapped around mine as he led me into the hall, "I'm going to kill him." Damon said quietly as we got to Ric and Elena. Walking down the steps Damon explained Bill's new plan for the council, surprisingly Ric wasn't on our side, "Maybe it's a good idea to keep both of you in check." 

"Excuse you." I snapped, "I think I'm keeping myself in check pretty fucking well, considering everything that's going on."

"That's not the point," Damon stepped in, "He's impervious to compulsion, which means he needs to die."

"No!" Elena and I yelled together.

"He's Caroline's dad," Elena added.

"Yeah, and when I kill him she'll have one more parent than the three of us."

"Low blow," I hissed.

"Damon come on." Ric pleaded, putting his hand on Damon's chest to stop him from heading back inside.

"I'm getting really sick of you stepping on my fun lately." Damon grabbed Alaric's wrist.

"I'm not going to let you do this."

"Your temporary funeral." Damon snapped Ric's neck in the blink of an eye.

"Damon!" I yelled, muttering the cloaking spell as he ran off.

"Go stop him." Elena urged.

"Call Caroline, if I go after him the cloaking spell will drop and you can't carry his big ass to the car. How are you going to explain this?"

She nodded, pulling her phone out and calling Caroline. I sprinted to Damon's car, trying to carry an invisible, dead, Ric as inconspicuous as possible. I quickly opened the door pushing him inside, thanking the heavens above for super strength before rushing back in the house as fast as I could.

I made it to the office about the time Bill groaned in pain, the smell of fresh blood filled the air. I grit my teeth and pushed the door open, "Damon what the hell are you doing?" I snapped.

"What needs to be done." He replied.

"You're not stupid enough to kill the sheriff's ex-husband." Bill sneered.

"A lot of people, underestimating me tonight."

"Damon," I said quietly.

He ignored me, leaning in to finish what he started, I caught him in a migraine spell as Caroline burst through the doors, slamming into Damon. She held him up against the wall, "Alexis heal him please." Caroline called back. I started walking towards Bill when Damon spat, "A few hours ago you were going to kill him yourself."

"When I thought he was going to kill Caroline. Think about it Damon if he outs us, what to stop either one of us from dragging Caroline down too?" I replied calmly walking towards Bill. I bit into my wrist and held it out. Bill turned his head away, "Good Lord, don't be dramatic." I shoved my wrist in his mouth for a moment and then stepped back. Damon pushed Caroline off, who stood watching him like a hawk, "Let me teach this tool a lesson."

"Just go, Damon."

"Or what, Blondie?"

Caroline was so quick if I would have blinked, I'd have missed her punching Damon square in the jaw. Damon licked his lips and stared Caroline down. He grabbed her by the throat, slamming her on the desk, "I'm stronger than you little girl." He growled over her. I moved to step in as Caroline yelled out, "Well  _ I'm _ angrier." She head-butted Damon, who staggered backward. 

He shook himself off heading straight for her. I stepped in between the two of them, "Stop, both of you." Caroline grabbed Bill and ran off, Damon scoffed and walked past me. I followed him outside, "Damon!" I called out. He keeps walking towards his car, me right on his heels. I quickly looked around, we were the only ones left. I zipped in front of him putting my hand on his chest, "What is your problem?"

"He threatened us, Alexis. We're vampires when we're backed into a corner, we fight our way out. You don't live hundreds of years letting people like  _ that _ scare us."

  
  


"We can just go around killing people because they piss us off. We  _ live _ here, I'd like to keep living here. Drawing attention to ourselves is not the way to do that and you know it. You're being unnecessarily reckless." I stepped back as his face twisted up in anger.

"I get that compulsion is your favorite new trick but that option didn't work, I went for option two."

"I have plenty of tricks and if you have given me 10 minutes to think I probably could have fixed this." I crossed my arms.

"Well, you know best right?" Damon scoffed.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped back.

"I know you compelled me before you took off with Jeremy. I've been racking my brain all day trying to figure out what I  _ conveniently _ forgot before you took off." Damon didn't wait for me to respond, he brushed past me over to his car. 

"Why didn't you say anything this morning?" I asked.

"Because I wasn't sure, I am now. So what was it?"

"I can't tell you," I replied quietly.

"Can't or won't?"

"Pick one."

Damon silently got in his car and took off.

I just stood there in shock for a moment, not because he was angry, I knew that was going to happen but because he just walked away. Caroline's hand on my shoulder pulled me out of my state, "Hey." She said quietly.

"How long have you been out here?"

"I came out to scream at Damon some more but you two were, well you know." She sighed, "You wanna talk about it?"

"No, kinda wanna burn some shit down, but a blood bag and a drink will work too."

"Well lucky for you my house is stocked with both." She replied, leading me to her car.

  
  


**Thank you for reading let me know what you thought by leaving me a comment <3**


	5. See What I See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive me for the wonky timeline I was using a wiki reference and it's not the greatest, so we're just rolling with it.

A year and a half ago, if you would have told me Caroline and I would be drunk and laughing on her living room floor when the sun came up, I would have laughed my ass off. 

In all truth, Caroline was probably the person I needed to find me. Caroline liked to talk but if she knew how important something was she'd keep that secret till she died. Even when we were fighting, none of my deep dark secrets came out.

At the start of the night I broke down, everything was just piling on and there was no way I could keep it all inside anymore. Now she officially knew everything, my summer with Klaus and Stefan, why I compelled Damon and my not so  _ imaginary _ friend. For the first time.in a while, I felt a small sense of relief.

She sat and processed everything knowing I didn't need her to tell me what to do or how to fix it. I just needed someone to  _ hear _ me. We sat drinking in silence until she finally asked, "How is this the first time you've broken down?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, pouring myself another drink.

"All I did was hear about it and I want to break things for you. Oh and don't even get me started on Cate."

"It's exhausting." I sighed.

"Are you going to tell Damon?"

"Not right now. I can't. I get one chance at this and if I fuck it up, I'm going to have to deal with her for literally, eternity."

"What about Klaus?"

"Honestly? Pray he has more important things than me and my road trip."

"Sounds like a solid plan." Caroline got up and walked into the kitchen, returning with two blood bags and another bottle of tequila, "Enough doom and gloom for a little bit."

The rest of the night was spent making up a ridiculous drinking game that no human should play, ever. The fact that we were both hammered when Liz walked through the door at 7 am confirmed that.

"Do I even want to know what I walked into?" She asked, dropping her keys on the table.

"Nope." Caroline giggled from the floor.

"Sleep, both of you, now," Liz demanded. 

Both of us pouted and walked off towards Caroline's room. I passed out, hard, as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Caroline's phone ringing started me awake, I nudged her with my arm, groaning and laying my head back down. Caroline rolled over grabbing her phone off the nightstand.

"What?" She mumbled into the phone.

I blocked out the rest of the conversation trying to get back to sleep. Once Care hung up the phone she hit me with a pillow, "Get up."

"No," I whined back.

"Elena wants to have lunch."

"Well too bad I want to wallow." I reached for the blanket covering myself up, "All I need is some blood and ice cream."

"That's disgusting." I felt her grab the blanket, "Well, now the more I think about that kinda sounds delicious." She yanked the blanket off the bed, "Regardless, time to get up."

I groaned, rolling over and sitting up, "I don't have clothes here. I'm not going anywhere like this." I gestured to the wrinkled dress I was wearing. 

She rolled her eyes and pointed to the closet while she walked out and got a cure to our hangover. 

When we got to the grill Elena was sitting outside, pouting, with a huge basket of fries in front of her, "You look like I feel." I said sitting down. Caroline took the seat in between Elena and me.

She leaned over pulling books out of her bag, "Damon dropped these off this morning." As she slid the books across the table I realized it was my grimoire and Cate's other journal. I opened the front of the top book and there was a short note,  _ When you're ready to tell me the truth, you know where to find me. _

"What happened after I left?" Elena asked.

I closed the book and moved them to the side of the table, "We got into a fight. I did a shitty thing and Damon is rightfully mad about it."

"Well, that's super detailed."

"Can you just leave her alone about it?" Caroline snapped, "Clearly she doesn't want to go into detail or she would have."

"Fine jeez," Elena threw her hands up, "I was just asking because when he came by her was wearing that same depressing look you have." She looked at me, "I'm sure whatever it is can be fixed. 

"Yeah, I don't know that it can." I stood up, "Thanks for last night, Caroline."

"Where are you going?"

"School starts Monday, gotta get some new clothes since most of mine are at the boarding house."

"So you're just going to call those a loss?" 

"Damon wants to talk about something I just can't right now, so my choices are, go shopping or go naked." As I went to walk away Elena laid some money down and stood up, Caroline following behind. "What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"We're coming with." Elena answered, "I need a distraction and Caroline has a shopping problem."

"Really it's fine, I'm just going to run home and grab my truck."

After a little arguing, I finally caved. I rode with Elena, following Caroline to drop her car off and then heading to Grove Hill. Once we got there I managed to sneak off for an hour under the pretense of I just needed alone time. I quickly found enough clothes to make it until I could finally face Damon. 

I wandered around for a few minutes before I met up with Elena and Caroline at the food court. "Did you find everything you needed?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, I see you guys had no trouble." I replied, pointing to the numerous bags on both of their arms, "See that's why I went by myself, I don't understand how you get so much stuff in so little time."

"I have my own magic." Caroline laughed.

As we walked back to the truck the laughter stopped as we noticed a black crow sitting on the roof. Both Caroline and Elena looked at me as it cawed. I walked up to the truck and the bird didn't move, "If you're not going to talk to me you sure don't get to watch me." I said quietly and with a flick of my wrist, the bird fell to the ground.

"Aww, poor bird," Caroline whined as Elena looked at it disgusted.

"Sorry, Ottis," I whispered as I walked around the truck.

We dropped Caroline off and made the super short trip home, as Elena turned off the truck she sighed, "You can talk to me you know. I'm glad you talked to someone because shutting everyone out can't be easy or healthy. I just want you to know I'm here ok?"

"I can't talk to you about  _ this _ . I mean Elena what am supposed to say? I'm over here pushing Damon far, far, away and you are clinging to Stefan like if you let go that's it, life is over."

"I don't know what else to do, he doesn't want to be found but I feel like if I just give up I'm failing him." She ran her hands over her face and through her hair.

"I'll help, whatever you want to do. You wanna fight tooth and nail to get him back I'll bite Klaus myself. You want to give up and move on, I'll help with that too."

"I think right now I want to eat too much and pass out with a terrible movie." She said opening the truck door.

"Yeah, Caroline and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night so bed is probably a little higher on the list than I'm willing to admit." I got out grabbing my bags and closing the hatch. I got to the stairs as Elena slipped inside and out of the corner of my eye I saw another crow, "I'll do it again." I muttered, it flew off as I stepped inside and closed the door.

I walked upstairs throwing my bags on the bed, I heard Elena starting the shower in the bathroom. I started pulling stuff out and putting it away, all while thinking, did I really want to just pretend to be a normal high school senior? 

Once I'd finished I took a shower and changed, Elena's room was quiet, _she_ _must have skipped the movie._

I packed a bowl and grabbed some extra, tucking it in a bag with my books. I threw the strap over my shoulder and climbed out the window onto the nearby tree branch. Normally I'd climb down to sneak out but tonight I was climbing upwards to the roof. I leaned against the chimney thumbing through one of Cate's journals, the spell itself wasn't very complex, it was the timing that needed to be perfect. 

A couple of hours later and my second smoke break in I finally figured it out, "Illumination Day." I whispered to myself.

"Well, took all the wind out of my sails," Cate said, plopping down in front of me.

"You knew?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"No I just found out, I knew a large memorial gathering would thin the veil, but I had no idea your weird little town made it an annual event."

"We're a morbid place " I shrugged.

"Normally it wouldn't be affected to the point this would work but because of the magic at work on my side it's already fragile."

"Why do you even want to come back? Witches have more power over there you can interact with one another, why come back, why not just find peace?"

"I have unfinished business." She smirked.

"Cue the lamest ghost excuse ever." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, it's legitimate. Before I died I was working on a way for Elemental magic to recycle without the help of the originators. We can't find peace, if we do then witches like us will cease to exist."

"What if I fail?"

"Tia, myself, and the others were willing to wait but an opportunity like this may never come again, so you'll understand why I'm pushy."

"I'm on board, violence is no longer necessary." I closed the book, "Preservation of the species is now my top priority."

"Damon will forgive you, once he knows how important this is, eventually he'll be able to look past the bad in your choice and see why we picked you to do it."

"So none of this was even about the sacrifice?" 

"Oh no, it was, partially, you needed to break that curse, to become truly immortal. The kind of power you're going to have to channel, the overload alone would kill a normal witch." She stood up, "You are destined for great things, don't let anyone take that away from you." 

I sat there staring at the now empty space where Cate had been, I made the decision that tomorrow I'd talk to Damon and give him back the memories I took. I had a better understanding of exactly what Cate wanted and why, he'd have to understand. I climbed back down and slid through my window shutting and locking it behind me. 

**Damon's POV**

I'd spent the better part of yesterday drunk, still racking my brain, if she wasn't going to tell me then I would find a way to remember. Bill Forbes voice butting in, not only telling me the mind was a powerful tool but something he'd spit out before Alexis walked in,  _ my _ compulsion was pretty standard, but Alexis had affected him to the point he almost left town. Even my own mind was tired of this game, chances are I wouldn't be able to remember until she took away the compulsion.

Pouring my second glass of bourbon this morning, I rolled my eyes as the doorbell sounded through the empty house. I walked over to the door and opened it, Elena stood in the doorway.

"If you're here to fight for your sister, I'm not really in the mood." I held up my glass shaking it.

"Wow, I'll give that girl credit, she is fantastic at pushing your buttons." She replied.

"Kathrine, joy, go away."

"Are you sure?"

I caved, "What do you want?"

"I'm just a girl looking for a partner in crime. Wanting to hit the road, looking to get out of here. Wanna come along?"

I thought for a moment, "You know what, yeah let's go."

"Really?"

"Really, where are we going?"

"Far away, that's all you need to know for now." she let Elena's necklace fall through her fingers.

I grabbed my jacket, "I'm driving." 

She tossed her keys and walked over to the passenger side before we took off.

  
  


**Alexis's POV**

When morning came I laid on bed for almost two hours before finally pulling myself up and out of bed. I walked downstairs, Elena was in the kitchen with Bonnie, "Morning," I said walking to the coffee pot.

"Kathrine stole my necklace," Elena announced.

I turned around to face them, "What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday I was at the grill and she walked up to me and sat down. I thought she was Elena and asked for her necklace back. I turned around to look at something and she was gone."

"Wow, I wonder what she wants it for."

Bonnie shrugged and Elena just looked angry.

"I've gotta go, I think I'm going to try to talk to Damon and sort all of this out, plus there are no blood bags here and I'm kinda hungry."

"I don't know that I'll ever get used to that," Elena replied.

"Good luck," Bonnie called after me.

When I walked outside I took a quick look around, no birds out of place but there was this weird calmness in the air, that for some reason put me on edge. I shook it off as I got into the truck and headed down the familiar road to the boarding house.

Once I pulled up I saw the Camaro in the driveway. I knocked on the door with no answer. The handle was unlocked so I slowly pushed the door open, "Damon?" I called out. I walked in a little further after not getting an answer, I noticed a glass sitting on a table by the door. The house was completely silent, no one was here.

I took the opportunity to snag a few blood bags and a couple of pairs of my shoes, I didn't know when or if he was going to be home. I threw the stuff in my back seat and pulled out my phone, pulling up Damon's contact info. It started ringing as I got in the truck. After a couple of rings, it went to voicemail. I sighed and typed out a text,  **Came by to talk, I know you're mad but can you at least let me know you're not dead.**

I drove around for a while before finally stopping in town, Caroline was walking across the square with a bunch of bags. I hopped out of the truck and walked over, "Didn't you get this out of your system yesterday?"

"It's for senior prank night." She replied as we got to her car.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to skip it." 

"No, you're not." She snapped back, "We are making memories that are going to stay with us for the rest of our lives."

"Care, we're eternally 17 we can do this a million times if we want."

A weird look flashed across her face, "You're going." Her tone left no room for arguments 

"Fine, but in case you didn't know, you're a bully."

"Nothing I haven't heard before." She smirked and closed her truck, "Wanna get some coffee?" She asked, pointing towards the grill.

"Not from there, it's Sunday." 

"You're right I forgot they put vervain in the coffee after church. I should probably get this stuff to the school anyway. 7 pm in the gym."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved my hand at her as I started back towards my truck. Once inside I pulled out my phone and once again tried to call Damon, this time it only rang once before someone picked up,  _ "Aww poor little witch misses her vampire." _

I gritted my teeth, "Kathrine. Why do you have Damon's phone?"

_ Oh, he didn't tell you, we decided to take a little trip. _

"You're just trying to get me worked up, and I'm not going to let you. Grow up, Kathrine."

_ "I'm not the one who has people literally running away from them. Gotta go." _

"Ugh." I groaned, leaning back in the seat.

"At least he's alive." Cate popped up in the passenger seat.

"Yep, and chillin' with a woman he spent over a century looking for." I pouted.

"Well if you're going to be all negative about it, use that anger for something productive, how long until this odd little festival?"

"About a week."

"You need to build up your strength and we both know blood bags won't cut it." She nodded her head towards the back seat. It's your choice but since only one person in your circle knows what's going on it's probably best not to dessicate in the middle of the cemetery."

"You're bothering me. Go away." I snapped.

"Fine mope by yourself." 

I leaned my head down on the steering wheel considering my options, every last insecure one. I fought with the rage monster that wanted to bring herself front and center before finally going back home.

When I walked in I slammed the front door a little harder than necessary, Elena walked in from the living room, "I take it didn't go well."

"It didn't go at all, he wasn't home. He took off with  _ Kathrine."  _ I said her name with venom in my voice.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I called him and she answered, said they were on a road trip."

"Can't you just pop yourself over there and see?"

"I'm out of practice and it's harder on a moving target." I shrugged, "I'm just going to go upstairs for a little bit."

"Ok but Caroline said if she has to force you to show up she gets to stake you for fun."

I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen, throwing the blood bags into one of the drawers and then took the rest of my stuff upstairs. I threw the shoes in the closet and plopped down on the bed, closing my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep. My phone buzzing in my pocket made me open my eyes, the sun was going down and according to the clock, I was late. Assuming it was Caroline calling me I pulled out the phone and answered, "Sorry Caroline I'm on my way."

_ "You better be, we have over 1000 mouse traps to set up." _

"I swear I'm walking out the door right now." I hung up and rushed outside and up to the school.

The dark hallways always creeped me out, I could hear someone in the work out room, peeking in, I saw Matt, I wonder if he even knew what today was. I could hear a bunch of people whispering in one of the English classrooms, I wandered down the hall, slowly pushing the door open. "Stay to the wall," I heard Elena whisper.

"Why?" I asked.

Caroline flipped her flashlight up to her face and then down on the ground, "Mousetraps, and if you set one off, they all are going off."

  
  


I nodded my head making it over to the group carefully, I reached down taking a bundle of traps for myself and setting them up. 

We only had maybe 50 more traps to set when the door swung open, the traps started going off and the lights flipped on. Matt stood in the doorway confused.

"Oh come on, do you know how long that took to set up?" Caroline scolded.

"Did you forget about prank night?" Tyler asked.

"Clearly," Matt replied.

"How could you forget about senior prank night? We've only been waiting for this since freshman year." Caroline sounded disappointed.

"Yeah Matt if I'm doing this, you're doing this," Elena added.

"I'm kind of surprised any of you are doing this, most of all Alexis, queen of anti-school spirit," Matt argued.

"I was a cheerleader for two years." I scoffed.

"Yeah speaking of," Caroline started, looking at me.

"Nope."

"Oh come on, you're the reason Riley had to have her jaw wired shut, you owe me."

"Not my soul. Why don't we just focus on prank night."

"You're right, guys we're seniors. These-"

"Are the memories that will follow us for the rest of our lives," Elena started.

"And if we don't create these memories now then what's the point of it all." I finished.

"Ok fine make fun."

Tyler picked up a box and headed for the door, "You guys are all lame, and I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Elena followed behind him.

"And where are you going?" Caroline asked.

"To super glue, Alaric's desk shut," Elena replied, simply

"Ooh, can I come," I stood up walking towards her, "I want to mess with his chair." I laughed.

As we walked down the hall I pushed through the doors and stepped into the next hall before I knew what happened, dust was blown into my face and Klaus had Elena, I threw up my hands but nothing happened, "I'm sure you're familiar with binding powder, little witch." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a dagger, "I know you're familiar with this and unless you'd like me to use it, I suggest you do as you're told."

"Just because I don't have magic doesn't mean I'm weak."

"Yes but see your sister is supposed to be dead, she's not and necks snap so easily around here." His grip on Elena tightened, "So unless you would like to be the reason the show ends early I suggest you follow me."

**Damon's POV**

"I'm hungry, we should stop." Kathrine turned to face me in her seat.

" _ You  _ should tell me where we're going, we've been driving around aimlessly for hours."

"Just far enough from Mystic Falls so you can't go running back."

"Mystic Falls and I are on a bit of a break."

"Hmm, just you and Mystic Falls?" 

"What are you playing at?" 

"I mean, you seemed pretty upset with Alexis when you thought I was Elena. Let's not forget you didn't invite her on our little trip."

  
  


"Alexis likes to keep secrets."

"Or maybe she just doesn't want to play the damsel in distress. Even as a human she didn't strike me as the kind of person who needed a knight in shining armor." She smirked, "Maybe she just wants a partner in crime."

"Can't help if I don't know what's going on. Why are you standing up for her anyway? You two hate each other."

"Hate takes a lot of energy Damon, energy I don't have to spare. What could she have done that's so bad anyway?"

"That's none of your business."

"Well you two being on a break, means more fun for me." 

I looked at Katherine, who leaned in a little closer, "Sorry but the whole slutty hell bitch thing doesn't do it for me anymore." I smirked and she slumped back into her seat temporarily defeated.

**Alexis's POV**

Klaus had his hand around one of my arms and Elena's in the other. I snatched my arm away about halfway down the hall, "I'm quite capable of walking."

He stopped facing me, gripping Elena a little harder, "Really? Because from what I've seen you're not very good at following instructions, without the threat of violence."

"Well, you've done that. Now please ease up on her, she's like 100 pounds and I'd hate to snap your neck for breaking her arm."

Klaus whipped around and continued to drag Elena down the hall towards the gym. "What are we doing Klaus?"

Klaus stopped in front of the gym doors, letting Elena go with a warning look, almost daring her to run. He stepped over so we were face to face, "I'm glad you asked-"

"Are you though?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"Ever the smart ass, I see. I can't make my hybrids and I'm willing to bet one of two things happened. She's supposed to be dead, or you messed up the spell."

"Well I'm hardly wrong, so Elena probably shouldn't be dead and the ritual only released your werewolf side I've seen nothing that even mentions your master race."

"You know, when I was told about Travis I had the hotel manager send me all the footage from that day. I wasn't even a little surprised to see  _ you _ holding a book that doesn't belong to you. It almost seemed like you were talking to yourself but you're not crazy so that's not the case." Klaus started circling around me, "The only reason I broke the hybrid curse was to make more hybrids. Now tell me, what did that little witch do?"

"We could ask but that requires  _ magic, _ " I replied. I was walking a thin line, too much sass and he'd kill Elena before I could blink, not enough he'd know I wasn't going to be an unwilling puppet, same outcome.

"Well we'll just have to find a way around that, won't we?" Klaus shoved the doors open with his shoulder and then pushed a stumbling Elena inside first. When he walked in he started spouting some nonsense about being busted and telling everyone to go home. I lingered by the door, "I'm sorry I told you to go away. Now help me." I whispered.

"Don't drag your feet, Alexis," Klaus called over to me, "come join the fun." He turned back to Dana and Chad, "Dana lift your foot please," she did, "Right so, Chad if Dana drops her foot I want you to beat her to death."

"You don't have to hurt anyone, Klaus," Elena said.

"Of course I do love." Klaus smiled back.

"We get it, Klaus," I snapped, "You're big, bad and scary. You've got us here, and if we're being honest the only reason you haven't tried to kill Elena yet is because you're not sure you have too. Now that you've successfully made me useless to your mission, what's the plan? Other than, be a royal pain in my ass."

"What does Cate want?" He growled.

"Who's Cate?" Elena asked.

"Not your concern, either of you," I replied, crossing my arms,  _ though I could sure use some cosmic help right about now. _

"You mean to tell me, your sister doesn't know you have a doppelgänger of your own?" Klaus laughed.

"Excuse me?" Elena asked.

I ignored Elena, "You're right that's who I was talking to but it has nothing whatsoever to do with you." I told Klaus honestly.

  
  


**Damon's POV**

I pulled over and got out of the car without a word, Kathrine climbed out and walked to the front, "Why are we stopping?"

"Because we've been crammed in that car all day, thought we might stretch our legs. Plus I'm tired of driving it's your turn."

She walked towards me and held out her hand, I smiled, chucking the keys into the woods in front of me, "Hey!" She yelled.

"We're not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on. You dragged me all the way out here for what Kathrine, sarcasm, and a long boring drive?"

She pulled Elena's necklace out of her pocket, "Klaus wants this."

"Why?"

"I don't know and I really don't care. He wants it and I have it, leverage." She smirked, "Always be one step ahead of the enemy."

"I'll keep that in mind." 

"If you think that's interesting you should hear what Bonnie let slip when I got this from her."

"Oh yeah and what's that?"

"You sure you're all in on this? Willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of Klaus for good?"

"Enough theatrics."

"Say you swear, no turning back."

"I swear, apparently we're 12 now, you wanna do a blood oath too just in case."

"Oh, honey we did that almost 200 years ago." Her smile widened as she opened the trunk.

My response lost as I looked in the trunk, "Jeremy? Really?

"Yeah, probably not going to win any brownie points with witchy for this one."

**Alexis's POV**

Dana was getting wobbly, Klaus seemed excited, "You're wasting time, binding powders don't hold me long. Ask Bonnie." I taunted.

"Oh, I intend to. Matter of fact when she arrives the fun can really begin." Klaus looked from me to the door waiting for it to open.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked, drawing his attention back to her.

"He's on a time out."

The doors swung open and Bonnie walked through with Matt. "Bonnie, run!" Elena yelled out. I tried to zip over but Klaus was faster, "Finally," Klaus said, "we've all been waiting on you." Klaus turned back towards Chad and Dana, "Dana, love, you can relax now." Facing back towards Bonnie he leaned in trying to intimate her, "I assume you are the reason Elena is still breathing."

Bonnie stood tall, never breaking eye contact, "I am if you want to blame anyone then blame me."

"Oh there is no need for blame, however, I'm going to need you to figure out a way to rectify a little issue I'm having with my hybrids." The door burst open again and a tall blonde walked through dragging Tyler behind her.

"Get off me." Tyler snarled.

"Hush." She snapped, stopping short when she looked at me, "Cate?" She whispered confused.

"Oh no," Klaus smiled, "Rebekah I'd like you to meet Alexis, the witch that broke my curse. This is my sister Rebekah, I'll warn you all now she can be quite mean."

Rebekah had regained her composure, "Don't be an ass," she snapped at Klaus as she threw Tyler on the floor.

Klaus walked over dragging Tyler back up to his feet, Rebekah circling around me. Klaus looked Tyler up and down, "You see every time I try to make a hybrid they die in transition, it's quite horrible actually." He bit his wrist forcing it into Tyler's mouth.

"Leave him alone!" Elena screamed.

Klaus ignored her and kept talking to Bonnie, "So I'll make this simple, you are going to find out exactly what went wrong." With a loud snap, Tyler fell to the ground.

Matt rushed over checking for a pulse, "He killed him."

"He's not dead when he wakes up he'll be in transition, Klaus is trying to make him a Vampire," I said trying to calm Matt down.

"If Bonnie is successful, he'll live through his transition. So go on now you haven't got much time. Take Alexis with you, maybe she can get Cate to put some thought into this little problem. Off you go, gather your grimoires, enchantments, and whatnots. You don't have much time." I walked towards Elena, "I'll take care of Elena." Klaus sneered.

Elena nodded and I walked over to Matt, pulling at his arm while staring at Klaus, waiting for him to say something. However, he just stood there with a stupid smirk on his face. I promised myself right then I'd wipe it off before the end of the night.

I followed Bonnie out into the hall, "What the hell is he talking about? Like Cate, the Elemental who's been dead for 500 years."

"Give or take," I replied.

"Is there anyone in your family not seeing ghosts?" Matt asked seriously.

"I think Elena is clean." 

"You're really seeing her?" Bonnie's voice was full of concern.

"For a couple of months, the only person who knew was Caroline."

"Well call her up, see what she knows." 

"I can't, that binding powder cut me off. Believe me, I've tried."

"So what are we going to do?" Matt asked.

"All of my books are at home, I can get them but I've been through them more than once and there is nothing about hybrids other than myself and Klaus."

"Nothing I have goes back that far, this kind of magic is a thousand years old. We would have to contact the witch that created the spell."

"Cate was only a power source for that spell but she may know something."

"I can try to channel her as a last resort."

"What about the dead witches?" Matt asked.

"I don't have access to them anymore, not since I brought jer-" Bonnie's head shot up and locked eyes with me.

"I'll call him." I said walking a little way down the hallway, his phone rang a few time and went to voicemail, I looked over at Bonnie who seemed to get the same response, "Bonnie you keep trying I'll run home and see if he's there" she nodded dialing his number again while I took off outside.

**Damon's POV.**

I pulled Jeremy out of the trunk and laid him on a nearby table, all while glaring at Katherine, "Mind telling me what the hell he's here for?" I snapped.

"What if I told.you there was a way to kill Klaus? Dead, dead not Dagger dead."

"I'd think you were lying, high, or lying and high." I raised my eyebrow, while I couldn't trust her, I was slightly interested in what she had to say.

"You remember my friend Pearl?"

"Vividly." I groaned.

"Centuries ago she told me about a vampire who could kill Klaus, then she wouldn't tell me anymore."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know and it was her leverage."

"Well, a lot of good all that does. In case you forgot Pear is dead."

"She told one other person, her daughter, Anna."

"Also dead."

"Which brings us back around to.." Kathrine trailed off looking past me.

"To me," Jeremy said sitting up.

  
  


**Alexis's POV**

I was home and back to the school in less than 10 minutes with no sign of Jeremy, I'd tried to call him and Damon several times with no answer. I came skidding down the hallway, spotting Bonnie. "Where's Matt?" I asked.

"He's going to look for Jeremy. Once you texted he wasn't at the house Matt said he was going to check the grill."

"We don't have that kind of time Bonnie."

"I know that's why I've been working on something else. Magic or no magic if you can see Cate you're linked to her somehow. Maybe I can contact her.

Bonnie instructed me to cut my hand and let some of the blood fall to the floor, she flipped through her book and used it to draw a symbol in the blood. She closed her eyes and muttered a few words, a pins and needles sensation ran through my body.

"It's not a very strong connection, like an old TV." She muttered, after a few seconds the sensation was gone.

"Anything?" 

"Nothing about how to save Tyler." 

"What did she say?"

"Just the name Mikael?"

"Who the hell is that? And where the hell is Matt?"

Bonnie's phone started to ring, making both of us jump. Matt's name scrolled across the screen, she quickly answered.

Matt's voice was frantic on the line, something about Vikki trying to contact him, her eyes went wide as the line went dead, "The pool." She whispered.

We both took off down the hall, rushing into the pool, Bonnie dove in first with me right behind her. She undid the belt attached to his waist and I lifted him up to dry land. Bonnie immediately went to work on CPR.

"Matt if you die because you were being stupid I'm going to be so mad at you," I said quietly.

Bonnie kept at it, muttering under her breath, finally, Matt's coughed spitting up water, "It worked," he coughed.

"What worked?" I asked.

"I saw Vikki, she said she had a message for Bonnie. The witch that put the spell on Klaus said that Elena had to die for his hybrids to work."

I felt a pit in my stomach as Matt sat up.

"Tyler's going to die isn't he?" Matt asked quietly.

Klaus's voice came from the door, "I don't know, given the choice of doppelgänger or hybrid, I'd go hybrid every time."

"Where's Elena?" I asked.

"With Stefan, who safer to leave her with? Especially now that I've compelled him to stop fighting."

"Stop fighting?"

"I've made home more….. agreeable."

I heard a crash in the hall followed by yelling. I went to rush out but Klaus grabbed my arm, "Ah, ah, ah, no interference."

I clenched my teeth together, ready to physically fight my way to Elena. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cate, "Fixed you." She smirked and was gone. I looked over at Bonnie and Matt, Bonnie nodded wrapping her hand around Matt's arm, " _ Phesmatos superous em animi _ ." Klaus grabbed his head screaming out, blood started coming out of his eyes. Bonnie and Matt took off out of the back exit. The spell wouldn't hold once I got too far but hopefully, I'd buy myself enough time. I flashed down the hall towards the noise Stefan was alone in the cafeteria, "What the hell are you doing?" I yelled, "Where's Elena?"

Stefan staked himself with a mop handle, "He wants me to kill her," Stefan gasped.

"And yet here she is alive." Klaus sneered from the doorway. I turned around to face him as he shoved the dagger in my chest, "I think I've had about enough of you."

**Damon's POV.**

Throwing the keys was a bad idea, I'll admit that. Jeremy had been helpful after a little violence, Anna said the secret to getting rid of Klaus was someone named Mikael. It took almost 20 minutes to find those damn keys, as I walked out of the woods I saw Jeremy putting his head down on the table, "Don't fall asleep, you may have a concussion." 

"Thanks for the concern dick." Jeremy snapped.

"Oh stop pouting you took one for the team." Kathrine said, "And now we know how to find this Mikael and end Klaus's reign of terror."

"Where's my phone," I asked Kathrine.

"Wanna see if Alexis called? Or better yet you want to make sure it's ok you knocked around baby Gilbert."

"I know you have it." I held my hand out, she pulled the phone out of her pocket and slapped it into my hand.

"I needed you here." She shrugged.

I had missed calls and texts from Bonnie and Alexis, "What the hell Kathrine?"

"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked.

"Klaus."

"You said you wouldn't turn back, Damon." She walked up trying to snatch the phone from me.

"Shut up, Kathrine." I threw the keys to Jeremy, "Stay with her, Anna can show you guys where to go. I'm going back." I started walking towards the road Kathrine ran up behind me, "You are going to get yourself killed. The Damon I know wouldn't have been this stupid."

I turned around, "Love makes you stupid." I shrugged and was gone.

Kathrine had us driving in circles, for the most part, it took me less than an hour to get back to Mystic Falls. Alexis's phone was going straight to voicemail. I'd managed to get a hold of Bonnie and found out that Elena's blood was the key to creating his hybrids. The hospital was a logical place to start looking.

There he was talking to a blond who he shooed off as I walked out, "I've been wondering when you would join the party. You're usually not far from your little witch."

"Alexis doesn't seem to want my help, I'm here for Elena."

"Well I'm sorry she's inside making a donation right now, I can't let you interfere." Klaus put his hand on my chest daring me to move forward. 

"Guess you're going to have to kill me." I pushed past him. He picked me up like I weighed nothing and slammed me on a nearby car, "You see I'd love too but I promised your brother I wouldn't kill you and unlike him I'm a man of my word. Not that he'd mind right now."

"Don't you want to know about Mikael?" I choked out."

"What do  _ you _ know about Mikael?" Klaus growled back.

"Just that he knows you're here."

"You're bluffing."

"I'm not Kathrine and I found him, consider it our leverage." 

Klaus threw me across the parking lot when I slammed into another car, laying there for a moment. When I sat up he was gone.

**Alexis's POV.**

I opened my eyes and the bright lights above made me shit them again. After a second I sat up, "Elena?"

Caroline stepped in front of me holding up the dagger, "Elena is fine.. ish. Damon took her home."

"She's fine?" I said quietly looking from her to Tyler, "You're not dead."

"Yeah, that's the part you're not going to like," Caroline added.

"There was a part of all this I liked?"

"Hybrids in transition have to drink Elena's blood or they die," Caroline said, handing me the dagger.

"Awesome." I looked down at my phone, dozens of missed calls from Damon, "I need to go." I ran outside and headed towards the boarding house.

I walked in, Damon was sitting in the library drinking, "You still got that bottle of white oak ash?"

He turned around in his chair, "Yeah why?"

I pulled the dagger out of my waistband, walking over I held it out to him.

"How did you get this?" He looked up at me.

I gestured to the bloodstain on the front of my shirt, "Caroline pulled it out of my chest about 15 minutes ago."

He took the dagger, setting it on the table, "I'm sorry I left." He said quietly as he wrapped his arms around me.

"We need to talk," I said as I placed my hands on his chest, pushing myself away. I moved over to the bar car pouring myself and Damon a drink. As I sat down on the couch, Damon looked towards the door, "Hello brother." I heard from behind me, I whipped my head around to see Stefan smirking in the doorway.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon asked standing up.

"I live here." He replied simply, "And since Klaus is going to be away for a while, he's asked me to ensure Elena's protection." He turned his attention to me, "She's the secret to creating his hybrids, not sure if anyone told you."

"You flipped your switch." I stood up and walked over to him.

"10 points to the second rate witch."

I lunged forward, my hand effortlessly ripping through Stefan's chest, "I don't care if God himself told you to watch her, stay away from Elena." I hissed. Stefan coughed and sputtered for a second and I pulled my hand back. I walked out of the room without another word.

I walked into the kitchen, running my hands under the sink. I heard Damon walk in, "I will say that is an efficient way to get a point across." I said as I turned around.

Damon stepped in front of me, "It definitely gets someone's attention."

"Damon.." I started staring at the floor, "I shouldn't have compelled you and I'm sorry. I one hundred percent plan on giving you those memories back but before I do you have to promise not to react until I've told you everything."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because you didn't handle it well, and well you were being you."

"Snippy and passive-aggressive?"

"Exactly," I replied with a smirk.

"This is the part where you say, oh no you're always a delight."

  
  


"I mean we're arguing because I half-ass lied to you and you want me to lie more?" I let out a small laugh, Damon didn't seem amused. I locked eyes with him, "You can remember what I took from you."

I took a step back as Damon's stance changed, he tensed up and opened his mouth to speak.

"Ah, ah." I stopped him, "I told you I've learned a bunch since then, now listen."

I explained exactly what Cate wanted, to find a way for her and the others to find peace, "Getting daggered was an eye-opening experience. I could see everyone but they couldn't see me. I spent the better part of an hour trying to get someone to take the dagger out and because I wasn't dead, dead I couldn't even communicate with the other witches. It was miserable, I can't imagine being there for 500+ years."

"How do you know she's telling the truth? It was kind of sneaky for her to wait until you were desperate to ask for help. Why not tell you all of this in the beginning?"

"Would you like to ask her all of this yourself?" I asked, annoyed, I'd already answered these questions.

"How the hell am I supposed to talk to a super dead witch?"

"Do you trust me?" I asked.

"Almost exclusively."

I walked up putting my hands on the sides of his head before calling out to Cate, "This doesn't mean you get to pop in whenever you want to like you do with me."

Damon raised his eyebrow, "She's pushy." I shrugged, "Close your eyes." I said quietly, he did, " _ Vident quae videtis _ ."

Cate smirked from the couch as I told Damon to open his eyes, I braced myself for his reaction.

"So when exactly were you going to tell me that Cate looks more like your twin than Elena," Damon asked, staring at her.

"Truthfully I was hoping it wouldn't come up, and before you asked neither of us know why." I quickly explained.

"I need a drink." Damon kept looking between Cate and me, "Several of them." He added walking towards the basement.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been so excited to get to this chapter so y'all could have a little more insight on what exactly Cate wants. I know the lemons have been slacking but I promise it'll get steamy again soon. Please leave me a review and let me know how you like it <3


	6. School Spirit

**Thank you for the new Kudos they always put a smile on my face. I worked so hard to get this finished so y'all would have something to read this weekend.**

**As always I only own my OC. Enjoy!**

Damon walked back into the living room, tossing me a blood bag and walking over to the bar car, he set down a very expensive bottle of liquor. He walked around handing me a glass and sitting down with his own, "So why wait to ask for help?"

"The plan was always to get Alexis away from Klaus. He doesn't handle defiance well and you've met her. She doesn't do well with authority."

"Understatement of the year," Damon replied.

"I'm standing right here." I pulled the stopper out of the blood bags and started pacing behind the couch.

"Anyway," Damon encouraged Cate to continue.

"Alexis wasn't even supposed to go with Klaus but because  _ someone,"  _ Cate eyed Damon, "got themselves bitten, our plans had to adjust."

"So the whole reason Klaus let me go is a lie? Thank God," I sat down on the couch near Damon, "I just could imagine a scenario where I would go running to Klaus for help or vice versa he  _ hates _ me."

Cate blinked slowly and bit her lip, "Unfortunately it's not outside the realm of possibilities. I didn't tell Alexis right away because she didn't even believe I was real. When we noticed she was getting close to her breaking point I told her to hide the books and we sent the witch to talk to Klaus shortly after that."

I didn't miss Damon's eyes quickly flicking over to me before driving back on to his never-ending list of questions. After what seemed like hours, Damon asked the one question I'd refused to ask, "Why Alexis? Just her proximity to the Doppelgänger?"

"Just me being a badass isn't good enough?" I asked, earning myself an eye roll from both of them.

"As a witch on this side, I can interact with others here. In a thousand years, the Petrova doppelgänger has never had a sister let alone a twin, and there's  _ never _ been another one of me." Cate explained, "When Mikael came to town-"

"Wait, Mikael? The vampire hunter that hunts vampires?" Damon said jumping up.

"How do you know about Mikael?" She asked.

I looked between them, "Why does that name keep popping up?"

"Mikael came here in the early '90s looking for Elena, a witch bound him so he couldn't hurt her, we decided then and there you would be the witch to break the curse. We just had to get you there."

"That's where Kathrine and I were going, Jeremy has been talking to Anna, she's leading them to him," Damon explained.

"Wait, you left my little brother with Kathrine?" I asked angrily.

"He's fine." Damon assured me, "Kathrine wants Klaus dead, Jeremy's got his ring and to be truthful she might be a little scared of you."

Cate's eyes went wide, "I don't think that's the most important thing. If Mikael is coming here, you need to keep him as far away from Alexis as possible."

"I'm not scared of an original hybrid, why the hell would I be scared of a vampire hunter." I scoffed.

"Because Mikael hates elementals more than he hates Klaus and that's a tall feat. You are not only an Elemental but a dangerous original vampire on top of it, he'd shift his priorities for you."

"Why is it always you?" Damon groaned.

"I will add that to the list and deal with it after Illumination Day," I announced. 

Damon looked from me to Cate and back, "How do you make her go away?"

"You ask nicely," I said simply.

"Ha! I've been popping up for months now and not once have you  _ ever  _ asked me to leave nicely."

"Well, I'm asking you now... Tata." I said waving my hand. With another roll of her eyes, she was gone.

Damon stepped in front of me and pulled me off the couch, "So you're going to do it?"

"Let Cate loose on the world, in the hopes that elementals won't become extinct? Yep."

"You realize that is probably stupid right?"

"Also yes. Look Damon I'm not looking for your permission and if you want no part in this I understand but it's something I have to do. If she really is telling the truth, then not doing this means they have to exist in misery." I turned away heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked annoyed.

"Home," I replied, turning back to face him.

"I think you should stay."

I raised my eyebrow, "Not only is this the first time since I've been back that we haven't fought, but it's the first conversation we've had in  _ days.  _ I don't want to ruin a good thing."

He flashed in front of me, "I'm all for looking for reasons to celebrate." 

"Good night Damon," I smiled back and walked outside. While I totally deserved the retaliation for compelling him, I was still a little mad about his and Kathrine's little road trip. I wandered down the empty roads of Mystic Falls until I made it home. I sent Jeremy a text to make sure he was ok before walking in and heading upstairs.

After a shower, I laid there staring at the ceiling, in a few short hours I'd be going back to school and as a vampire for the first time. I tossed and turned for almost an hour before finally giving up. I quickly got dressed, hopping from the bedroom window, and back out onto the street.

I wandered down the roads and just outside of town. Cate was right, yes more people knew now but I still didn't need to fall over temporarily dead in the cemetery full of people. 

I sat by the edge of the road until I heard a car pull off the highway. I got up and moved to the middle of the road and laid down, closing my eyes.

  
  


The car slowed to a stop, as I heard the car door open man's voice rang out, "Are you ok?"

I laid there perfectly still, when he got close enough I jumped up and flashed behind him.

***

As I walked back up the road I felt proud of myself, six feeds, no casualties. The magical hum I'd need for illumination day was already building. There was one thing I hadn't counted on, the blood high. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced, my already heightened sense and emotions all on overdrive, it was almost a euphoric feeling. 

Looking at the time I only had a couple of hours before I had to be at school and  _ this was not _ a good state to be in. So instead of heading home, I headed back to Damon's.

_ Please be awake.  _ The door was unlocked, as I walked in I saw Stefan and what looked like an entire sorority house in the living room, "Eww." I said loudly from the doorway.

"I'm sorry you seem to have a little hypocrisy on your lip there," Stefan replied from the couch.

"Mine all went home to their beds, can you say the same about Kappa Beta Compelled over here." I snapped.

"Damon's upstairs why don't you go bother him." He waved his hand towards the hall, shooing me off.

I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs, I wanted to get those girls out so badly but if he'd compelled them to listen to him, there was nothing I could do. 

I knocked softly on the door before pushing it open, Damon was shirtless, laying in the bed reading, "Couldn't sleep either?" He said not looking up. I didn't say anything, just slipped inside and closed the door behind me. Damon finally looked up catching my eyes, "Alexis Gilbert, are you blood high?" He smirked, tossing his book down and sitting up on the bed.

"Maybe just a little," I replied, biting my lip and holding two fingers pretty far apart.

"Bold way to start school."

"Yeah about that, I was hoping you'd be willing to help me burn off this extra energy."

Damon flashed over pinning me to the door by my wrists, "I thought you didn't want to ruin a good thing."

"I've had some clarity," 

Damon pressed his forehead to mine, "I don't know clarity is the right word." He let go of my wrists and stepped back.

I huffed, lost for words. I crossed my arms as Damon just laughed.

"I will beg." I finally uttered.

"I'd almost like to see that," In a blink, he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist, "But I'd like to see something else a little more." He smirked, wrapping one hand in my hair pulling my mouth to his.

My back hit the bed and his hand slid under my shirt. He ran his fingers lightly over my stomach, causing the muscles to tense and me to moan into his kiss. Damon pushed his hips into me and I could feel his growing erection.

He broke away, pulling me with him so I was sitting. Damon was working way too slow for me, I reached for the hem of my shirt pulling it off and throwing it on the floor, my bra following shortly behind.

"Someone's eager," Damon smirked.

"Very." I smiled back, wrapping one hand around the back of his neck, pulling him back to me crashing our lips together. My free hand ran down his chest, reaching his waistband I slipped my hand inside. Wrapping my fingers around his length, stroking it slowly. A growl rumbled from Damon's throat as his hand latched onto my hair, pulling my head back. 

Sucking and biting with blunt teeth down my neckline, swirling his tongue in that hollow of my throat. He pushed me back on the bed and I squealed out as he grabbed my hips, pulling me to the edge. Another smirk rolled across his face, as his fingers made quick work of my shorts and panties. Sliding them down my legs, I was already panting and he'd barely touched me. Damon slid his hands up my legs and I shivered, leaning in he kissed my stomach and over my hips. He pushed my legs up and moved his head between them. I moaned loudly as his expert tongue flicked at my clit. One hand gripping the sheets, the other in Damon's hair as he sucked and flicked the sensitive nub, adding two fingers to the mix. My back arched and my eyes rolled back as Damon built up his pace. The pressure that had built up exploded from my core. 

I laid there unable to move euphoria swimming through my head. Damon slipped his pants off and pressed his lips to mine, his tongue swirled in my mouth. With a woosh I was on top, Damon's hand slid in-between us as he positioned himself at my opening. I broke away from our kiss sitting up and lowering myself onto him, "Fuck Alexis." He groaned out as he filled me to the hilt.

Damon's hands gripped my hips as I moved, both of our moans filling the room. As I started moving faster Damon's hands moved up to my chest, groping both of my breasts. Pinching my nipples as he thrust his hips upwards. My head fell back and Damon took the opportunity to flip us. He hovered over me, our hips crashing together. I tilted my head up, catching his lips, moaning into his mouth. He kissed down my jaw to my neck as his thumb found my clit. I felt his teeth puncture the skin and I was thrown into a mind-blowing orgasm.

In a flash we were up against the wall, Damon hammering into me, my nails digging into his back. He hit my sweet spot with every thrust, my walls tightening around him. He kissed me as I unraveled, him following right behind me.

He pulled me from the wall and set me down on the bed before slipping out and laying next to me, "Feel better?" He asked.

"Wow." Was all I could muster.

Damon laughed sitting up, "I've never been on this side of a blood high before, that was fun." He smirked.

I sat up and moved around the room, picking up and putting on clothes. "Says the one who didn't walk in here feeling like a cat in heat." 

"I don't think I've ever heard a more accurate description," he laughed again. 

I picked up my phone looking at the time, "Shit I've got to go." I said shoving it my pocket 

"Fine use me for my body and then leave." He laughed opening the door.

"Sorry, I had no plan when I jumped out of my window in the middle of the night. I still have to get my bag and my truck." My phone rang in my pocket, "Ugh what now." I quickly read the text, "And now apparently I do owe Caroline my soul."

"I'm confused."

I held out my phone showing him a picture of a Timberwolves cheer outfit, with a note on top that said welcome back. "Suddenly I'm wishing she left the dagger." A smirk rolled across Damon's face, "No, don't even think about it. You will not be doing  _ me _ in  _ that." _

"I like a challenge." He replied. I rolled my eyes as Damon led me downstairs, "Whoa." He said suddenly as we got to the bottom of the stairs. Two girls, dead, at the bottom of the stairs.

"I assumed you knew what he was up to. They were all still alive when I got here."

"I had no clue, he left about 5 seconds after you, I followed him until he left town and came home." Damon walked towards the living room, "Well this looks fun, could you take it somewhere, oh I don't know, not by the front fucking door."

Stefan was sitting on the couch, several girls on the floor playing bloody twister, Stefan spun the dial, "Thanks  _ mom _ , I'll take that into consideration." Stefan snapped, grabbing one of the girl's wrists and taking a drink.

"I'll give you props Stefan, a lot more of them are breathing than I expected," I said leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry how rude of me," He stood up dragging the blond with him, "I know I usually get your leftovers but I'm happy to share." He shoved the girl's bloody wrist in my face, "She's delicious."

"Enough Stefan" Damon called over, "I don't really think all of this is what Klaus meant by protecting Elena."

"These girls are helping me be all I can be, Damon." Stefan dragged the girl back to the couch as a knock on the door rang out.

I pushed myself off the wall and reached Damon as he opened the door, Rebekah walked through, "Where's Stefan?" She's asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Damon asked.

She ignored him looking at me, "Alyssa right?"

"You got a couple of those letters right, Brittany," I replied.

"I'm sorry?"

"My name is Alexis," I turned to Damon, "Have fun with Barbie Klaus, her name's Rebekah btw." I kissed him on the cheek and headed outside.

I rushed through the woods and over the back fence, running upstairs. I grabbed my bag on the way out, I heard a noise from Jeremy's room. I slowly pushed the door open. Jeremy was lying face down on his bed, "Remember when you were all mad we wouldn't let you get involved?" I asked.

He lifted his head scowling at me, "Past me was a dick." He replied before letting his head flop back down.

I cleared my throat, "Well, hate to break it to you but looking for a thousand-year-old vampire hunter doesn't excuse you from the first day of school." I walked over and grabbed his arm, "Get up, meet me downstairs in 5 minutes, I'll give you a ride."

"You just want to make sure I go," he groaned as he pushed himself off the bed.

"If I have to go, you have to go."

"Sound reasoning."

I turned around and walked out, closing the door behind me. 

Jeremy grumbled the short ride to school, jumping out of the truck before I even put it in park, "Bye, love you too." I called out the window. He rolled his eyes and walked inside. Walking in I walked up to my locker tossing stuff inside, when I closed the door Caroline was behind it, "Jesus, woman." I gasped dramatically.

"Brought you're uniform, I assume you're the same size since you know…" she trailed off.

"What vampirism?" I replied.

"Shh."

"Vampires!" I yelled loudly, earning a few weird looks but nothing more, "Nobody cares, Caroline."

"Might wanna be a little more careful," Stefan said from behind me.

"Says the guy playing bloody twister in the living room this morning." I snapped.

"Excuse me?" Caroline asked, raising her eyebrow.

I ignored her, "Did Klaus also compel you to drive me freaking crazy."

"No, but he did ask me to give you this." Stefan dug in his pocket and pulled out a stack of IDs with a rubber band around them. I immediately tensed, I'd forgotten to grab them from my hiding spot in Tennessee, "He found these, thought you might want them back." He grabbed my hand and slapped the IDs down before smirking and walking away.

"Are those?" Caroline started.

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"Come on, we're going to be late." She grabbed the stack from my hand and replaced it with the bag that had the cheer uniform, "And I don't wanna hear how you have no clothes for practice I already swung by your house and got you some stuff."

"Of course you did," I said exasperated.

"And don't forget about the bonfire tonight."

As I went to answer, my phone vibrated, a text from Damon flashed across the screen, "I'll catch up with you," I looked down at my phone.  **Damon: Been a busy morning, Barbie Klaus lives here now. Stefan's gone and Kathrine can't get Mikael to wake up.**

I sighed hitting the call button, " _ Any thoughts?"  _ Damon asked.

"Unfortunately, Stefan is here so that base is covered. Can't help with Rebekah, but Kathrine, has she maybe, thought of feeding the vampire hunter that hunts vampires, I don't know  _ vampire blood _ ?"

" _ See, those kinds of critical thinking skills are one of the reasons I love you. Hey, you might wanna give your sister a heads up to stay away for a few days." _

"I'll take care of it," I muttered into the phone as the bell rang, " I gotta go." I hung up, sliding my phone back in my pocket and walking to class. I slid in just a minute late. Ric looked up from his papers, "It's the first day Alexis." He grumbled.

"Setting the bar high this year, I actually showed up," I smirked back, taking my seat behind Bonnie.

Alaric turned around from the board, "Ok everyone, I know your brains haven't been challenged in a while so let's dive right in shall we. We'll start with the original founders of our country, the native Americans." 

"What about the Vikings?"

My head snapped up at the sound of Rebekah's voice. Ric cleared his throat and said, "There's no evidence to suggest Vikings settled in this area. I'm sorry and you are?"

"My name's Rebekah, I'm new and history is my favorite subject."

"Yeah cause you've lived through all of it," I muttered if Rebekah heard me she didn't acknowledge it.

The rest of the class went off without a hitch. By the end of the day I was patting myself on the back, I'd kept my urges under control, even when some clumsy girl managed to cut herself in math, of all places.

I tried to sneak out the back doors towards the stoner pit when Bonnie snagged my arm, "Not that I wouldn't absolutely love to hear about the awkward fight I'm sure you and Jeremy had but I'm trying to ditch Caroline."

"I actually just wanted to check on you. First day back to school as a vampire, no one died so I guess it went pretty good."

"As well as can be expected."

As Bonnie went to answer, Caroline's high voice cut through that hall, "Oh no you don't."

"Caroline please don't make me do this." I whined as Caroline looped her arm in mine and started dragging me down the hall, "You know I could just kill you right here, oohhh or compel you to think this is the stupidest idea ever."

"Yeah cause we've seen how well that goes for you."

"I think I actually hate you."

"We've been there, done that, I've got the t-shirt," she smiled pushing open the locker room door.

"I refuse to be thrown in the air like a rag doll."

"Well then you should have broken someone else's jaw, or you know gained a hundred pounds." She gestured inside and I huffed walking through the door.

Walking outside I joined the group stretching, after a few minutes one of the girls asked about Dana. Caroline and I exchanged looks, she'd caught me up to speed on everything that had happened last night.

"Looks like you need one more," Rebekah said walking up.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah ignored her and kept stretching, I saw Elena running on the track. I tapped Caroline on the shoulder and nudged my head towards Elena and took off in her direction, "Hey," I said running alongside her.

"Thanks for the text letting me know you were ok." She snapped.

"I'm sorry, I came home but I couldn't sleep so I went out for a walk."

"Did this walk happen to take you by the boarding house?" I raised my eyebrow as she took a quick look at me, "Stefan ratted you out, trying to make me feel bad I guess."

"I mean if pointing out that two highly dysfunctional people can manage to work together makes you feel bad, then by all means." Stefan interrupted as he ran with us.

"What do you want, Stefan?" I asked.

"Where Elena goes I go, I'm supposed to protect her."

"Who's going to protect her from you?"

"So, you going to the bonfire tonight?" He asked Elena.

"Go away, Stefan." She replied.

"Oh, you think I'm annoying now, just wait until homecoming. Who are you taking by the way? I don't want it to be awkward."

A guy bumped into Elena as she was turning away from Stefan, the guy barely got out an apology as Stefan pushed him to the ground. 

"Who are you?" Elena snapped.

Stefan looked her up and down, "I'm the guy who's been assigned to protect the human blood bag. I mean no offense." He shrugged.

Elena huffed and walked off, Stefan tried to follow. I put my hand on his chest, "One more step and I swear to God I'll kill you right here."

"You sure, lots of people around." He replied quietly

"I truly don't give a fuck," I growled back. I shoved him back a little before running after Elena, "Can you call Damon and meet me at Ric's apartment?" She whispered.

"Yeah, why what's up?" I replied.

"This Stefan isn't good for anyone, we need to put him down until we can break Klaus's compulsion."

"I'll grab my stuff and meet you over there." I texted Damon and headed inside grabbing my stuff and rushed towards the truck. As I pulled out the keys a weird ringing started in my ears, I closed my eyes and shook my head a couple of times and it was gone. I brushed it off as an after effect of the blood high earlier.

As I walked through the door Elena jumped out with a stake, aimed straight for my chest. My arm flew out catching her wrist, "Whoa there Buffy, just because I can't die doesn't mean it won't hurt."

"I wasn't actually going to do it, I mean what if you'd been Damon?" She pulled her hand back.

"Well for one you would have hit him in the stomach." 

"My only advantage is the element of surprise, at least that's what Alaric said." 

"He's not wrong." I walked in a little further, "If you need a vampire to practice on I'll be more than happy to help but let's not, with the sneak attacks, ok?"

  
  


She nodded as Damon walked in, "So what's this all about?" 

"Stefan," Elena replied.

We came up with a half-ass plan that required Ric, Caroline, and Tyler. Elena decided to leave Bonnie out of this one, I could handle any witchy necessities if it came to that.

"So I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire," Elena stated.

"And then I'll shoot him," Alaric finished 

"I get why you're magically staying out of this but couldn't we just ask Bonnie to do that fun brain-melting thing?" Damon asked.

"So does everyone know what you're up to except me?" Elena snapped.

"Ric hasn't got a clue," I smirked.

Elena huffed and said, "I want to leave Bonnie out of this."

"I've already said if I need to step in I will."

"And Rebekah, she's never far where Stefan's concerned." Damon jumped off the window sill and leaned on the desk.

"I'm also going to take that, I seem to be the I'm only one she doesn't verbally assault."

"I'll make sure the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready." Caroline chirped.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked walking through the door.

"Oh good you're here," Caroline walked over to Tyler, "We need you to raid your mom's vervain stash. We need enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea," Tyler replied slowly.

"Trust me it's in his best interests," Elena argued.

"But it's not in Klaus's."

I looked back at Damon who raised his eyebrow at Tyler. Caroline grabbed his shoulders," Tyler, Klaus is the bad guy, why are you acting like some kind of fanboy, slave, minion?"

"Uh oh," Damon muttered.

"What?" Ric asked.

"Klaus made me what I am Caroline, I owe him everything." 

"I thought you said it wasn't that literal," I growled at Damon as he picked up a dart off the desk.

"Enough." Caroline snapped.

"What's going on?" Elena asked.

"I think I'm going to go." Tyler turned to leave, Damon rushed forward stabbing Tyler with the dart.

"What the hell?" Caroline screeched.

"He's been sired," Damon said, nudging Tyler with his foot.

"What the hell does that mean?" Caroline looked at me and then to Damon.

"It means…" Damon sighed, "It means that he feels loyal to Klaus."

"Loyal how?"

"Like hell do anything to please him, Klaus's blood created him. It's really rare but I guess not so much in hybrids."

"Just get Tyler out of here," I said to Caroline.

"How do we fix him?"

"Get a new boyfriend," Damon replied, crossing his arms.

"Tact, Damon, ever heard of it?" Ric asked, giving Damon a death gare

"Are you ever going to not be mad at me?"

"It's not looking good."

"Ok." I interrupted, "We all know what we're supposed to be doing. Caroline that should keep him down for a while you think you can still get the cell ready?"

"Yeah." She replied quietly.

"Well then, let's go catch ourselves a ripper." I clapped my hands together before turning and heading into the hall. As everyone headed outside Damon stopped me, "I really didn't think it was that literal, besides being sired is so rare-"

"Our friendly witch friends on the other side would have to disagree with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Cate told me that they were so sure if you turned me that's what would happen, so they made sure it didn't." I grabbed his hand, "I'm fine, now we have something to do and I'd rather not have to take a second whack at this."

"I'll meet you out there." He smiled.

**Damon's POV**

I watched Alexis walk out before turning around, "I thought, Alexis, told you not to pop up whenever you felt like it?" 

Cate stood in the middle of the hall with her arms crossed, looking stressed, "It's a last resort, I've been trying to talk to Alexis for hours now, she can't hear me. Has she been acting strange?"

"No?"

"You need to keep an eye on here, there's something big going on here and I'm almost willing to bet it's interfering with my connection to her."

I nodded and headed out to the party.

**

Half drunk highschool kids, running around, made finding Alexis in this crowd difficult. Elena was making herself well seen, so I headed over to her, "You seen your sister?"

Elena pointed with her cup straight out, Alexis and Rebecca were sitting on a bench and neither one looked ready to kill the other so it was promising. "Is she ok?"

"You're the second person to ask me about her in less than 20 minutes. Do you know something I don't?"

"She bites her fingers when she feels sick."

"Vampires don't get sick." I scoffed.

"Well then maybe I'm wrong, but just because she doesn't like me very much, doesn't mean I don't know her." Elena's eyes cut to the other side of the party finding Stefan, "Time to get this party started." She finished her drink and headed over to the keg.

**Alexis's POV.**

The ringing in my ears was back, and it was starting to worry me. I was glad Rebekah had chosen to sit down, given her shoe choice it was probably best. "Looks like someone hasn't spent a lot of time in the woods." I sat down next to her on the bench.

"I grew up in these woods thank you." She dug I to the ground with a stick, "You know, Cate was my friend, even before she became a witch."

"I can go." I started to get up.

"No," she said quickly, clearing her throat, "You're the first person to talk to me since I got here. Although I do wonder why. You and all of your little friends hate me."

"I don't hate you, by reputation I don't particularly like you." I smirked, "But hate is a big emotion I save for really special pieces of work, take your brother for example."

"Nik is an acquired taste."

"He's a little bitter in my opinion." I laughed, grabbing a stick of my own, I pulled a marshmallow out of a bag nearby.

"What are you doing?"

"Roasting a marshmallow," I looked at her raising my eyebrow, "If you're amazed by this, I want to be there the first time you turn on a computer, ooh no a blender."

"If you're just going to make fun of me-"

"I'm not making fun, I spent the better part of a year around stranger's I've known my whole life. You want awkward? Try having more people know about you, then you know about yourself."

"I feel like 90 years in a box might top that."

"Yeah, you win."

A text from Damon flashed on my phone, letting me know Elena had left. The plan was in motion, which meant I could leave soon. The longer I sat here with Rebekah the worse I felt, the ringing had progressed to a dizzy feeling, and I felt hot all over. It was getting worse fast, "You're staying at the boarding house right?" I said quickly standing up, she nodded her head, "We can talk more later I practically live there."

I turned around crashing into Damon, "Something's wrong." I whispered.

"Come on." I wrapped his arms over my shoulder and led me away from the crowd. Out of sight from the party, I shrugged away from Damon, letting myself fall to my hands and knees.

"What's going on?" He asked crouching down next to me.

"I'm hot, like standing in a fire hot," I started coughing, clutching my chest. A wave of pain hit me and I scrunched up my eyes. At that moment I saw Ric's truck on fire, in the front was Elena and Vikki? "It's Elena." I gasped. "School parking lot. Go!" I hit his shoulder when he didn't immediately move.

He scooped me up flashing to the school, "I wasn't going to leave you in the woods by yourself." He set me down rushing over to the truck. A loud boom rang through the air as the truck exploded. My mind started racing,  _ Elena. _ Pain is forgotten, I rushed towards the fire.

"Whoa!" Damon stepped in front of me.

"But Elena." I pushed against him.

"She's fine, a couple of cuts and scrapes but otherwise not crispy." He locked eyes with me, "Can I worry about you now?"

"I'm- I'm fine." I was, the moment the car exploded I felt better, tired and hungry but better. Damon's raised eyebrow meant he didn't believe me, "I'm fine I swear." I dug in my pocket pulling out the keys to my truck, "but you should probably drive." I dropped the keys in his hand and headed to the other side of the lot.

Ric loaded Stefan into the back of Elena's truck and followed us back to the house. Damon kept looking at me, "You realize I can't die, your hovering isn't necessary." I said quietly.

"Yeah I get that but you're just going to have to suck it up." He smirked over the steering wheel.

Once we got to the boarding house, Stefan was fully conscious. Pushing past me and into the house, "Elena," I said quietly, breaking her concentration, "I've got some stuff in Damon's bathroom that'll help with those cuts."

She nodded and followed me inside. Once we got upstairs, I pulled out Bonnie's magic compound, "I've been saving this for a while."

"Why's it green?" Elena asked, disgusted.

"Because it's made from plants." I replied handing her the jar, "Bonnie made it for me after Stefan bit me. I used it on a burn and it worked great. I don't have any real use for it though."

"Thanks." She stared down at the jar, spinning it in her hands, "How are your fingers?"

"Saw that did you?" 

"You should have told someone something was wrong."

"I should've but I didn't. Now we are going to go home, watch garbage reality TV and eat ice cream until we pass out." I said, smirking.

"I think that sounds awesome." She hopped off the counter and followed me downstairs. Damon met us at the landing, "Elena, Ric said he'll take you home." She looked at me and headed down the rest of the stairs. Damon looked at me, "I take it you're going home too?"

"Let's be honest, if I stay here I'm not getting the sleep I very desperately need." I smirked, "Plus, she needs me."

He linked his arm through mine and led me downstairs. Elena and Stefan were talking in the hall as we walked up, "You really think after everything I've done, I'll be able to find my humanity again?" Stefan said, stepping closer to her. I got ready to pounce, Damon's grip tightened on my arm.

"I really do, I know you and I have hope that you can come back from this," Elena replied quietly.

Stefan laughed, "Do you know how pathetic that makes you."

"No Stefan, it makes me strong." She lurched forward punching him in the gut, I just barely caught the sound of the co2 cartridge. She pulled back and Stefan had 2 stakes sticking out of his stomach.

"Ooo." I groaned.

Elena walked out with Ric. I walked over as Stefan sat back on his heels, "You can't say you didn't deserve that." I turned to Damon, "I'll come by in the morning," I smiled and walked outside.

I climbed in the truck, jumping when Cate appeared in the passenger seat.

"Oh thank God you can see me again." She said relieved.

"What exactly was all that?"

"Ester, she didn't want you interfering with what she sent Vikki for. Seems that the Bennett's really have a soft spot for you Gilberts."

I looked at her, confused.

"While Bonnie was sending Vikki back to where she belongs. Sheila forced Ester to stop her extracurricular magic. She's making mistakes, stretching herself too thin." Cate sighed, "It's happening tomorrow, whatever she's planning."

I leaned my head on the steering wheel, "Will I ever sleep again?" I groaned when I looked back she was gone.

**I hope you guys liked it, please don't be a silent reader. I love seeing those reviews.**


	7. The Party Starts at Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long I had some company visiting and they were very demanding. I know it's short but I promise I'll be making it up to you guys soon. I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> I only own my OC

P2c7

I'd kept my promise to Elena last night, trashy TV, and snacks galore, I feel like it was something we both needed. Unfortunately, now that it was seven in the morning and I was just now walking up the porch steps, I was slightly regretting not just hunting and coming home.

I walked into the kitchen Ric was making coffee, "I thought you were home last night?"

"I was," I walked over grabbing my own mug and taking the coffee pot from him, "I had some stuff to take care of. Speaking of, I need out of the illumination set up. Do you think maybe I can write a paper?"

"How about you just tell me what's going on?"

"Given your stance on things that go bump in the night lately, you really don't want to know."

"Does it involve killing anyone?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"No, but the day is young and you know how things go around here."

Ric set his mug down a little harder than necessary, "Just because you're a vamp-"

"Chill Ric it was a joke." I snapped, "what the hell is your problem?"

"Nothing, just-, just go, consider yourself excused."

I poured what was left of my coffee down the drain, without a word. Grabbing my keys off the table I walked outside to my truck, thankfully I'd already stashed everything I needed inside. I started towards the grill, wanting a cup of coffee without a side of guilt. I changed my mind as the town square came into view, quickly making a u-turn and heading for the Boarding House.

I walked in and the smell of burnt flesh hit me like a truck, "Damon?" I gagged.

I heard a groan from the living room, Damon was tied to a chair with cable, I rushed over, picking up his ring on my way, "Did Stefan do this to you?" I asked, gritting my teeth.

"I woke up with a poker in my chest." He replied, extending his fingers so I could put his ring back on, "And Stefan said he didn't do it."

"A poker? As in how you tortured Mason Lockwood?" I snapped the cable on one wrist and moved to the other.

"That is where my mind was headed about the time the curtains started opening and closing by themselves." Damon used his now free hands to break the chain around his chest and stand up.

"Cate?" I called out, Damon and I both looked around but she wasn't there, "CATE!" Still nothing, "I don't understand, I saw her a few hours ago."

"Maybe she has better things to do."

"Then talk to the person that's going to bring her back to life at sunset? Doubtful."

"Sunset?"

"Yep."

"Well if this isn't your doing, maybe we should go find the other witch that's been playing with the afterlife." 

"Well, I know where she is but you stink," I replied scrunching up my nose.

"Oh come on, you know the stench of death livens up the party."

"I'm going nowhere with  _ you _ , smelling like  _ that."  _

Damon smirked and then rushed upstairs while I picked up the mess in the living room.

"You ready?" Damon asked, stepping down into the living room.

"Yeah, I just have to grab my bag." I walked outside and popped the hatch on my truck. As soon as I grabbed my bag something was off, it was too light. I pulled open the flap, "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

"Someone took my book." I looked in again, "I don't know the whole thing by heart and with Cate not answering I don't know what to do." I was starting to panic, I made a promise and without that book, I wouldn't be able to keep it."

"I have a feeling this is all related."

"Of course it is." I groaned, tossing my bag in Damon's car and plopping myself in the seat.

"Before I start this car, I need to know you're not going to break anything." He looked at me pressing the button, letting the roof down.

"I'm fine." I snapped.

"Then why is the radio going nuts?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I-" looking down the stations were jumping back and forth, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, it stopped. "Sorry," I mumbled quietly.

As Damon made it to the end of the driveway he stopped looking at me again, "You're doing it again."

I looked down at the radio, it was sitting stationary. I was only confused for a second when I realized I'd been biting my fingers again.

"Elena said-" Damon started.

"Elena sees what she wants to see, it's a nervous tick." I sighed, "Yes, I used to do it  _ more _ when I was sick because our dad was the town doctor and a dick. Today is big, I'm nervous. Please don't make this more than it is." 

"After today you have one less problem on the list." He smirked, a couple of miles down the road.

"Don't jinx it," I said as we pulled up next to Bonnie and Caroline. "With my luck, as soon as I'm done with this a whole new bucket of problems is going to get dropped on me." I pulled the handle and let myself out.

"Hey Witchy," Damon called over, Bonnie lifted her head slightly, looking at Damon. Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Morning to you too Blondie, So Sabrina, I think you got your witchy little wires crossed last night when you sent Vikki Donavon away.'

Bonnie looked slightly more intrigued, she focused on Damon, "Why do you say that?"

"Because he got spit roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost." I added, simply.

"Excuse me?" Bonnie asked.

"Woke up chained to a chair with a poker in my chest, sound familiar?" Damon replied annoyed, Caroline touched Bonnie's shoulder "I thought ghosts couldn't interact with the physical world."

"They can't." Bonnie said.

"Well, whatever you messed up, fix it. I don't have time to deal with a vengeful, Lockwood, werewolf. When I kill someone they are supposed to stay dead." Damon's eyes cut to me, "If I haven't heard from you an hour after sunset, I'm turning this into something bigger than it needs to be."

_ "Fine, mom." _

He rolled his eyes and drove off, "What happens at sunset?" Bonnie asked 

I sighed, thinking about how to explain this to her, finally deciding on, "I'm bringing an original elemental back from the dead."

"So we're telling people now?" Caroline asked.

"You're what?" Bonnie blinked her eyes staring at me, "I think I'm having a stroke because I know you didn't just say-"

"You heard me." I replied.

"Don't you think we've had enough ghost problems lately?" I whipped around to find the owner of the male voice, Matt was walking towards us.

I ignored him, "Have you talked to Vikki?"

"Not since last night." We all looked back at him suspiciously, "I swear I haven't seen her."

"Are you sure? Because Vikki would have just as much reason as Mason to hurt Damon." Bonnie said, looking at Matt, almost like she was waiting for some sign he was lying.

Matt didn't budge from his story and the look on his face broke my heart, he'd lost everyone and now here we were accusing him of something he clearly wasn't involved in. "I believe him." I announced Bonnie looked back at me, "Something weird is definitely going on. Cate's not answering me and my spellbook is missing from my truck."

"Look if you guys don't need me I'm gonna go." Matt didn't wait for an answer as he headed towards the town square.

"Poor Matt." Caroline sighed.

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine. At least, Elena, Jeremy, and I still have each other. It's just him."

"It must have been really hard to send his sister away." Caroline looked over at Matt's retreating figure, "So much strength as a man."

I rolled my eyes but Bonnie seemed like she was having none of that, "We have ghost problems to deal with, save the Jeremy lecture for later."

"She's right," I commented, "If a ghost other than Vikki has a physical foothold here then we're in trouble." I leaned down and picked up Bonnie's bag, the strap snapped the second I dropped it in her hand. "Oh, Bonnie I'm sorry." I leaned down to help and the pages of her grimoire flipped on their own, "I guess the witches on the other side owe you a new bag." 

Bonnie looked over the page it was open to, Caroline stepped behind me and quietly asked, "Did your book just-?"

"Mine never does that." I pouted.

"Please tell me that's a recipe for witch cookies."

"It's a manifestation spell, it reveals veiled matter," Bonnie mumbled

"I think your ancestors are smoking something. There is at least one ghost running around and they think the best idea is to let them loose?"

"You got any better ideas?"

"No, but-"

"Well, then this is what we're doing."

  
  


Bonnie drove, while Caroline and I sat uneasily on the way to the witch house. Parking in the woods we took the long walk up to the old mansion. Caroline looked just as anxious as I felt. Bonnie walked right in while Caroline and I stood at the doorway.

"Are you coming?" Bonnie asked, turning around.

"Umm." Caroline started.

"The last time I was here, those angry ass witches tried to kill me,  _ AGAIN!" _

"Look I know it's really creepy but I swear the witches aren't here anymore, you're safe."

"Relative term," I mumbled as I stepped over the threshold, letting out a breath as I got inside. We followed Bonnie down into the basement where she started setting things up, "Can you get the candles?" She asked. Caroline went for the box of matches, I waved my hand and smiled as the room was now bathed in candlelight.

"Show off." Caroline huffed, Bonnie ignored us reading over the spell again.

"Wanna see a show-off, come watch the fun later," I smirked.

"I'll pass."

Bonnie muttering the spell, stopped my retort. A breeze blew through the small space and a shiver went through me as I noted all the windows were intact. The wind picked up and the candles flickered but somehow stayed lit. Papers moved around the room and Caroline gripped my arm, "Bonnie I don't like this." She cried. 

The room seemed to calm itself, my jaw dropped as the empty space next to her was filled with a figure.

"Oh my god." Caroline gasped.

"Shelia?" I said quietly.

Bonnie's eyes snapped open, Sheila smiled softly looking at Bonnie. "Grams?" She questioned with a shaky voice, wrapping her arms around Sheila, "I can't believe you're here." She choked as she pulled away. Sheila held Bonnie's shoulders, "Now stop crying, we don't have a lot of time."

Sheila looked towards Caroline and me, smiling again, "Nice to see you again Caroline."

"Hi, Miss Sheila," Caroline replied quietly.

Sheila's eyes drifted over to me, "I always knew you'd be trouble." Her tone was almost joking, "I never imagined it would be this much."

"Neither did I," I replied.

She looked back at Bonnie the kind look she had replaced with seriousness, "This is a fine mess you've made honey. The witches told you there would be consequences if you brought Jeremy back."

"I couldn't let him die, I love him," Bonnie replied.

"I understand, but when you brought him back you opened a door. There is an old witch over here that took advantage of that and you. When you sent Vikki Donavon back she wedged that door open even further and now every ghost with unfinished business can just walk on through."

"How do you know this?"

"Witches can see each other on the other side," I answered.

"And we all talk." Sheila added, "Who do you think makes all the rules."

"What does the old witch want?" Bonnie asked.

"That is original vampire business," Sheila's eyes flashed to me and back, "What I want you to worry about is closing the door you've opened. You need to find the witch's talisman, she's drawing power through it from this side."

My phone rang, pulling my attention away, a text from Damon flashed across the screen,  **Meet me at the grill.**

_ No please? _ I rolled my eyes, "If you don't need me I have a book to find."

"Alexis." Sheila called out, "Keep an eye out, Damon isn't the only one with enemies walking around."

"I will." I looked at Bonnie, "Let me know if you need help."

She nodded and I headed up the stairs and outside. The sun was warm and a light breeze was in the air. My plan was to go to the boarding house and do a locator spell on my book. Damon could wait. I cut through the woods at breakneck speed, when out of nowhere a tree branch caught me by the stomach throwing me to the ground. I groaned holding my sides, waiting for my super healing to kick in when a voice caught me by surprise.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Jules's blond hair fell over her shoulders as she crouched down, "You should really watch where you're going."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, you don't want to fuck with me." I pushed myself up onto my arms ready to jump up.

"Well," she said snatching another branch close by, stabbing it through my shoulder pinning me to the ground, "With the door to the other side open I figured I'd test my luck." She smirked.

With a pop of my shoulder, I was no longer stuck to the ground but Jules still seemed to be stuck in her bag guy monologue, her hand in my chest still talking. I took the chance and made my move. With a twitch of my hand, she crumpled to the ground.

I pushed her off of me and sat up, "Guess I'm late to the party." Cate leaned against a tree looking down at Jules, "Found your book, well my book." Under her arm it sat, relief flooded me. I stood up and walked over to her, holding my hand out, "Where have you been?"

"Convincing the spirit witches that this was a fabulous idea." She smiled, handing me the book.

"Where did you find this?"

"The pound puppy stole it this morning." She nodded her head towards Jules, "One of the others has been keeping an eye on her while I got everything ready for tonight. All of these extra ghosts running around should serve as the perfect distraction for tonight."

"With everyone worried about the ghosts, Ester won't have time to notice you sneaking out of the afterlife permanently."

"Exactly."

We started walking towards town, "I have to meet Damon and you need to hide. I can't have someone running around that looks more like me then my sister."

"I've been invisible for 500 years. I will not be stuffed in some closet because you can't think on your feet."

"Alright, master of deception let's hear it." I held a branch out of her way as we stepped into the Salvatore's back yard.

"You're adopted right?"

"Yeah?"

"Easy, your uncle got around and those Gilbert genes are strong." She smiled proud of herself.

"Whatever, will you at least wear clothes from  _ this  _ century?"

"That I can do, I've always wanted to wear pants."

"They're overrated."

As we walked inside I noticed the house wasn't completely empty, "Hello?" I called out.

"Damon's not here." Rebekah said coming around the corner, she looked up as she stepped down into the parlor, "Cate?" She whispered the glass she was holding tumbled to the ground shattering.

"Bex." Cate smiled back.

"You're really here?"

"Soon to be permanently."

Rebekah glanced at me, "Is this what you've been up to? What my brother has been so concerned with?" 

"Yes." I replied simply, "I need you to keep it to yourself, at least until sunset ." I paused picking my next words carefully, "I like you Rebekah, please don't fuck that up."

She stood there, lost for words, her focus shifted from me back to Cate, "Why?"

"Why not?" Cate replied.

"I want a real answer if your intentions are to hurt my brother or my family-"

Cate held up her hand stopping Rebekah's rambling, "I am here to help the others find peace nothing more. I don't blame any of you for what happened to me. I have a mission and when that's done, I'm going to live out the life that was stolen from me, and then I'm going to die peacefully at a proper age." 

"Wait," I questioned, "you're not jumping back on the witchpire train?"

"One ripper lifetime was plenty, thank you."

Rebekah seemed to mull over what Cate had said before embracing her. I shifted uncomfortably towards the entrance, "Ok can we have this reunion later I have to go to the grill and find out what Damon wants."

"I'll catch up with you," Cate smiled, looking at her long lost friend.

_ Rebekah can probably dress her better than I could anyway,  _ I thought to myself as I walked upstairs. My phone buzzed on the bed as I cleaned myself up. Throwing away my t-shirt I grabbed my phone and headed downstairs, "So you're good with staying inside now that you have someone to talk to?" I asked standing in the doorway.

Rebekah and Cate both looked at me, "I'll behave. You keep that boyfriend of yours in line. I'll find you later." Cate shooed me off. I walked outside checking my phone that had finally quit buzzing text messages, Elena had caught Jeremy kissing Anna. __

I walked into the grill as a pissed off Jeremy walked out. I made a mental note to smack him later. I could see Damon sitting at the bar next to Ric. It wasn't until I made it to the bar that I noticed Mason, "Why am I not surprised?" I smirked, I snuck my hand across the bar stealing Damon's drink.

"I'd like to be able to just finish one today," Damon grumbled.

"Well, it's not this one." I flashed an even bigger grin as I threw it back. "I'm going to assume Mason is why you called me.

Damon lowered his voice, "I told witchy to get rid of him."

"She's working on it but she needs Elena's necklace, something about some old original witch business, that I'm sure I'll eventually be involved in." I rolled my eyes at the last bit.

Mason cleared his throat, "Well if the original witch wants to stop Klaus I may be able to help with that."

"Oh  _ her  _ you talk to." Damon snapped.

" _ She  _ didn't kill me."

"Well whatever is going on here I'm on a tight schedule, lots of saving the world to do, so can we?" I motioned with my hand for Mason to get to the point.

"You two meet me at the Lockwood cellar." Mason looked at Damon, "Bring a shovel." He pushed back from the bar and stood up.

Damon nodded at Ric, who seemed to ignore him. As he walked away from the bar he linked his arm in mine, "What took you so long?"

"I've had an  _ interesting  _ morning. Cate found my book, Jules took it."

"Really?"

I pushed the door open, "Yep, she didn't have time to toy with me though. I snapped her neck while she was running her mouth." I unlinked my arm and headed to my trunk, Damon pulled a shovel from his truck and slid it into the back of mine.

I smirked as he sat in the passenger seat, "What?" He asked.

"You think I have a tell." I laughed, turning the key and pulling on to the road, "Anytime you think I'm in danger you turn in to Cling Wrap."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He smirked back.

"Yeah ok," I replied sarcastically.

He laughed in the seat, as I drove down the road. 

The woods thinned out as we got to the all clearing, I sighed as we made it to the entrance, "Being supernatural is exhausting." 

Damon laughed again as we made our way down the stone steps, "I'll make you a deal, we both manage to survive tonight, I'll make it worth your while." He said with a wink.

"Drunken shenanigans?" I asked eagerly as we walked into the main chamber.

"I don't even want to know?" Mason interrupted.

"Good,  _ you  _ weren't invited." I snapped. I looked down at my phone checking the time.

"How much longer?" Damon asked.

"About an hour." Cate's voice came from behind me making me jump.

"Holy shit there's two of you," Mason replied as his jaw dropped.

"Old news, what exactly are we doing down here?" Damon asked.

Mason took the shovel from Damon, "There's an old Lockwood family legend about a weapon that can kill an original and like all of their secrets they kept it buried."

"Bull shit!" Cate spat, "I watched the original family burn the only white oak a thousand years ago."

"Maybe not." I said quietly, "trees spread seeds."

She huffed, Mason slammed the shovel into the wall, causing nothing but loud noise.

"Oh give me that." Damon sneered, snatching the shovel from Mason. He hit the wall breaking it open just enough to peek through. He slammed the shovel down again busting the wall out. He turned around and smirked at me.

"Wipe the drool off your face Alexis, we need to go." Cate motioned towards the door. "Oh bring the shovel."

"I'm not drooling." I mumbled, Damon laughed, "I'll meet you at the house." I told him, Damon threw me the shovel before I turned around and heading through the hall.

"Nervous?" Cate asked as I stepped out of the cellar.

"Extremely, you're not going to like dagger me and throw me in a lake are you?" 

"I wouldn't tell you if I was." She replied.

"Yeah, not helping.

****

  
  


As we pulled into the cemetery I paused before getting out.

"Oh Lord, I'm not going to kill you, or stuff you in a box, or throw you in a lake. You have done everything I asked, I made a deal and I intend to honor it. You set me free and I'm gone."

"Well let's get this over with." I got out of the truck and grabbed my bag and the shovel. I expected Cate to walk towards the center of the cemetery but when she veered off onto an old path that led to the woods I spoke up, "I thought you said the cemetery?"

"I didn't say which one." She replied quietly, "there are bodies buried all through these woods, not everyone is marked." 

Her words sent shivers down my spine. We kept walking down the path and the trees became thinner, "I've been here." 

Cate stopped in the middle of a small clearing, I became an Elemental right…. Here." She said stopping in the center, "and this is where you'll bring me back."

I walked over and dropped my bag pulling out the candles, a bottle of water from the river, and my book. I looked over the spell again while Cate drew a circle and symbols in the dirt. The sky was burnt orange signaling it was time.

I sat down on the ground with my book open, I raised my hands and candles sprang to life, sprinkling the water around myself and taking a deep breath as I dug my fingers into the dirt.  _ "Spirituum et erit utendum." _ The wind picked up, blowing the leaves from the ground up into the air. _ Paritura lucem intulerat ut renascantur."  _ The candle flames were a foot in the air. 

_ "Spirituum et erit utendum. paritura lucem intulerat ut renascantur."  _ The sky was dark which threw me because the sun shouldn't be down yet.

_ One more time _ , I thought to myself 

_ "Spirituum et erit utendum. paritura lucem intulerat ut renascantur."  _ As the last syllable left my mouth a blinding light flashed out. I clamped my eyes shut and an invisible force slammed me into the ground.

******

  
  


"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." Cate's voice caused my eyes to snap open. I sat up slowly, "Did it work?" I asked standing up, I expected to feel tired but I didn't, I felt more energized than ever.

"We won't know until Bonnie casts the spell to close the door but given the reaction and the fact I haven't been able to just pop back over, I'd say so." 

I looked around, the ground was scorched all the way to the edge of the circle except for a small patch where I had been sitting. Pulling out my phone I tried to call Damon, getting no answer I moved to Caroline, she answered on the second ring,  _ "Well at least I know you're not dead." _

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there Care, wait who's dead?"

" _ Tobias Fell, the tomb vampires are back and they're still a little pissed _ ."

"What can I do?"

" _ We're on our way to the witch house, Anna stole the necklace apparently she finally gave it to Jeremy he's going to meet us there. It should all be over soon."  _ There was some rustling on the line, " _ I've gotta go, Mrs. Lockwood is about to be vampire bait." _

The line went dead, "I guess we wait, Boarding house?"

"I at least owe Rebekah a good-bye if it worked." 

"What did we need the shovel for?" I asked as we headed back to the car.

"We didn't, I just wanted to mess with you." She smirked.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. An Original Walks in to a Bar..

P2c8

**Hello my lovely readers, I hope everyone is doing alright. Averaged sized chapter with a lemon. I know it took a while I had a bit of writer's block and got discouraged. I started a little side fic that I'm having a blast writing. It definitely helped take my mind off for what I was struggling with here. I hope you enjoy, please leave a review.**

**I only own my OC.**

A text came through about the time we pulled up to the house, the door to the other side was closed and Cate was still sitting happily in my front seat.

"Open your door," I said as I put the truck in park. She leaned over grabbing the handle and popped it open, she looked back at me with an eyebrow raised, "Congratulations, you are officially a real girl again."

"All thanks to you." She smiled, hopping out of the car. I walked around and we headed for the door, "How do you feel?" 

"Fine why? I mean I could go for a drink and some O positive but that's pretty much my norm."

"Ok good." She replied something about her tone was off though. Almost like there was more but she wasn't going to elaborate. As we walked in I called out, "Rebekah! Are you here?" I stepped down into the parlor and poured myself a drink, which Cate stole, "I was getting to you."

"What's with all the shouting?" Rebekah walked in throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"Ok one, do you ever not look like a model? And two, have you ever played quarters?"

She rolled her eyes ignoring the first question, "What is quarters?" 

"Oh, this is going to be fun," I smirked, clapping, and rubbing my hands together. Running up the steps I raided a little jar Damon kept in his dresser, pulling out a few quarters. I flashed downstairs grabbing some shot glasses and setting them on the table. "She's awful peppy," Rebekah muttered.

"Alexis are you sure you're ok?" Cate asked.

"I was promised drunk shenanigans, Damon is not here so I'm starting without him. If you don't want to play because you're afraid you'll lose, I completely understand."

Rebekah huffed and sat down, "How do you play this stupid game."

I smiled and put a shot glass in the center of the table, "It's easy, you just take the quarter and bounce it off the table, into the shot glass. If you make it, you pick the person that drinks." I followed my own instructions and looked up as the coin went * _ ting _ * in the glass. I looked up at Cate, "There are 5 more beds that have no one sleeping in them. Care to celebrate your first night back in the real world." I shook the bottle of whiskey.

"You're a terrible influence." She replied.

"Nowadays we call it peer pressure," I smirked as she sat down.

"I'm 1000 years old, you're hardly a peer."

I held my hand out and the remote for the surround sound and it snapped into my hand. I pressed the on button and said, "I'm sorry I can't hear you." 

As the music played, the game began. Rebekah with her vampire talents was just as good as I was, Cate struggled for a couple of rounds but caught on quickly. Rebekah and I seemed to have something to prove to one another and almost never picked Cate to drink. I'm sure she was grateful because her tolerance was that of a newborn baby. 

"Ok, I'm out," Rebekah said slamming down the shot glass.

"Oh thank God," I groaned, "I didn't have many left, I've never drank that fast in my life." 

"I feel slightly left out but also very thankful." Cate pushed the shot glass away.

**Damon's POV.**

The day had been a lot longer than I had anticipated. After Mason disappeared I had to hunt down Ric, who wasn't too pleased, after he finally agreed to go with me we were both amazed at what he found and decided to come back the next day. I'd texted Alexis after we finished and got no answer. Taking the long way around I noticed her truck wasn't at home so I made my way to the boarding house.

I let out a small sigh of relief when I saw her truck parked over by the garage, not because I thought she was dead, more that something had gone wrong and she needed help. Walking into the house her safety wasn't really a big concern. She was in the corner showing Rebekah what I could only assume was a cheerleading routine given the god awful music coming from the speakers.

I made my way over to the bar cart, "No strings on you I see." I said to Cate, she had been sitting on the couch watching the other 2.

"Nope, I'm a real girl." She replied, still looking away.

"Not one for dancing?"

"She should be exhausted, starving," Cate mumbled, almost like she wasn't talking to me anymore.

"I don't understand."

Cate finally looked away as I sat down across from her, "The overload tonight was enough to make a physical impact, the ground all around her was burnt. A normal witch would be dead."

"That's why you wanted her this way right? So she could help you and not die." 

"It is, but there should still be something, her magic doesn't even seem affected." Cate looked back towards the other two, "Just keep an eye on her, if she crashes it could be bad."

"How bad Cate?" 

"I wouldn't send her to school for a couple of days, maybe keep Elena away from her, her brother has that nifty little ring and she's the epitome of supernatural, so he should be fine."

"What exactly do you think is going to happen Cate?" I kept my voice quiet but I was getting annoyed.

"This could be some form of magical shock, once the adrenaline wears off, or well, more like the cosmic equivalent, she could be hungry enough to kill without remorse."

I set my glass down standing up and walking over to Alexis, "I'm just going to borrow her." Alexis turned around and smiled, it only lasted a second because I threw her over my shoulder.

**Alexis's POV**

"Damon! This isn't fair, this is really hard to get out of." Damon's grip around my legs got tighter as I squirmed, he started towards the stairs, "I swear to God I'll bite you."

"Fangs or nothing Pidgin." He smacked my ass, earning a yelp, and rushed up the stairs. He set me down on the bed, I pushed my hair out of my face, "What the hell?"

"Cate seems.. concerned."

"About?" I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrow.

Damon placed his hands on my thighs, "She seems to believe you're going to crash and go half-ass ripper." His grip tightened on my legs. My hands instantly went to his back pocket, sliding to the front not finding what I was looking for, I asked, "Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"Well, this is the part where you vervain me and throw me in the basement until I'm not a threat." 

"Have you met me?" He laughed, "No I'll probably let you run with it while keeping you from doing things that would hurt  _ your _ conscience."

I grabbed his face, "Do not let me go too far."

"You want me to pinky swear?" He smirked and I pushed him off of me.

I stood up pulling off one shoe at a time and then walking towards the closet, "If you have to do it take me to the lake house." I reached under my shirt unhooking my bar and dropping on the floor.

"It's not supposed to be a vacation." He laughed leaning on the door.

"It would work, the whole point is to keep me away from people right? So have Bonnie spell me to the property line. I'd even be able to use some of the water."

"It's September."

"It's still  _ warm _ out. If it's going to happen then it'll be in the next couple of days right?"

"She seemed to think it would be sooner than that."

"Well, I feel fine." 

"Fine?"

"Well, I'm not sure.  _ Someone _ went all caveman, got a little handsy, and now I'm all hot and bothered." To prove a point I dropped my shorts, stepping out of them. Leaving me in panties and a t-shirt, that only covered about half of my butt.

He zipped forward, picking me up, I squealed out. He rushed towards the bed, tossing me down. Crashing his lips on mine, my legs wrapped around him as I opened my mouth. His hands gripped my thighs sliding them up, over my hips, and under my shirt. Damon's thumbs put pressure in all the right places. He broke away, his hands stopping midway up my ribcage. He smirked, "It's always the bossy ones who want to be thrown around like a rag doll."

I growled a little, bringing my hands up, running them through his hair, "Stop talking." I said quietly, tightening my grip and pulling him back to me. His teeth grazed my lip, bucking his hips forward, I groaned and arched my back. With a final tug on my lip, he pulled back. Lifting me up and pulling my shirt off throwing it to the floor. 

His mouth attacked my neck, forcing me back down to the bed. Damon's hands expertly groped my breasts, his blunt teeth leaving little marks that healed as fast as they appeared. Swiping his tongue over my collarbone, I groaned, gripping at his hair again trying to pull him closer. He moved lower, increasing the familiar pressure in my stomach.

My hands moved to his shoulder pulling at his shirt, he leaned back happy to help. He pulled it off and I quickly sat up. Running my nails down his chest, his head fell back. I stood on my toes kissing down his neck. His hands moved down my sides, I heard a  _ snap _ when he reached my hips. I pulled back realizing it was the fabric of my underwear. He smirked, I latched my fingers in his belt loops and turned us. Pushing him back on the bed, I climbed on top of him, pressing my lips to his, reaching my hands down I popped the buttons on his pants. I slid down with my feet back on the floor, pulling Damon's jeans with me, he lifted his hips and I dropped them to the floor.

He was far enough on the bed I could kneel between his legs, my hand wrapped around the base of his dick. I watched him shudder as I slowly moved my hand. Lowering my head I ran my tongue over the tip and then took him into my mouth. Damon's eyes closed and his hand gripped in my hair, as I set my own rhythm he let loose a string of profanities bucking his hip.

I hollowed my cheeks moving faster, Damon groaned before moving his hands to my shoulders. He easily pulled me up, rolling us over, I was trapped between his arms. Kissing me quickly, he moved down my body, leaving trails of what felt like fire everywhere he touched. His thumb rolled over my clit, my back arched and I bit my lip. He set my legs on his shoulders, and his face moved between my legs. Running his tongue through my folds, his hand splayed out on my stomach to keep my hips from bucking. His thumb moved faster as his tongue swirled inside me. My back arched as Damon switched tactics, pushing two fingers inside me and sucking the small bundle of nerves into his mouth. My toes curled and I arched my back, yelling out as the waves crashed over me.

Damon moved back up planting kisses on his way. My hands tangled in his hair, wrapping my legs around him and flipping us over. We both moaned out as I guided him in, leaning down kissing his neck as I rolled my hips, Damon's fingers dug into my hips. I sat up moving faster, his thumb found my clit. My breath coming in pants he bucked his hips with the pace I set, hitting a spot that sent my head back. I screamed out his name, my walls tightened around him. A few more thrusts and both of us were reveling in our bliss.

I collapsed on top of him, he ran his hand through my hair, I closed my eyes listening to him breathe, "You still ok?" He asked quietly.

"Mmhmm." I managed to mumble, he shifted us and pulled the blanket over me as I fell asleep.

****

_ Damon and I were standing in the woods, "Please don't do this." I begged. _

_ "You worry too much." He smirked. _

_ "No, you don't worry enough." _

_ "I promise I'll be back before you know it." _

_ "Please don't get in the car," I whispered quietly. _

_ The scene melted away and a new one popped up _

_ A woman I didn't know was sitting across from me, her face was down but her long, curly, blond hair showed me I'd never seen her before. I didn't recognize the room we were in or the spell we were chanting. The power mostly coming from my partner across from me. I felt the connection snap and she was gone and a pit of pure sadness formed in my stomach. _

I sat up, the sun was shining through the split in the curtains. I rolled over and found the spot next to me empty. Panic spread across my body, I pulled on a small amount of clothing and rushed downstairs. I found him in the kitchen pouring coffee, "Oh thank God." I crashed into him burying my face in his chest.

"Whoa, hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied, gripping my arms around him a little tighter.

He set his cup on the counter and lifted me up, my legs wrapped around him like a vice, and I laid my head on his shoulder, "Talk about Cling Wrap." He mumbled.

"Shut up, you're ruining it," I replied, still not looking up.

"I'll shut up but you need to tell me what's wrong."

I untangled myself from him and stared at the floor, "I had a weird dream, I woke up and you were gone." 

He used one finger to lift my chin, "Get used to this face, because you're going to be looking at it all day."

"Is the rest of you going to be naked? Cause that would really help."

He laughed, turning around, "Well since I'm taking Ric and your sister to the tunnels, I think that might be a bit awkward." He faced me again with a blood bag in one hand and coffee in the other.

"Probably." I took both and started on the blood bag, "You two friends again?"

"No, but he answered my call and agreed to meet me so I'm going to pretend."

"Classic denial, I like it."

"Speaking of denial, how are you? Nightmares aside."

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe I should find Cate and see if she wants to fill me in."

As I was getting ready to slide off the counter Rebekah walked in, "She's already gone, I set her up with a phone and a passport this morning."

"Oh." 

"She left this for you." Rebekah held out a piece of paper, "I wrote her number on it for you." 

"Thanks," I said, flipping open the small note,  _ I keep my promises, but don't worry I'll be around. Thank you for your help, look out for a present. _

"A present?" I asked out loud.

Damon shrugged his shoulders, a text rang through on his phone, he looked at it and quickly said, "Put pants on we gotta go."

"Wait you're not coming to school?" Rebekah asked.

"No, I'm on ripper watch." I shrugged, "Sorry."

"You're never going to learn the dance for homecoming."

"Oh no!" I replied sarcastically. Damon raised an eyebrow signaling for me to hurry up, I looked at him, "I know, I know, pants. Damn." 

Even though we were in a hurry that didn't stop me from grabbing a quick shower before I got dressed. I walked downstairs with my shoes in one hand and my hairbrush in the other.

Damon did not look amused when I got to the parlor, "What part of we gotta go did you not get." 

"Core concept." I shrugged, slipped on my shoes. I pointed to the door with my brush, "Come on we gotta go." I teased.

"I think… yep, just had a stroke." Damon shot back. He rolled his eyes and walked up the step, holding the door open, "After you."

Damon threw a bag into the trunk before getting in the car, "What's that for?"

"Brought some extra flashlights for the humans and blood bags for you." He smirked heading down the road.

I ran my brush through my hair, "So much easier to take care of." I mumbled.

Damon's hand shot from the steering wheel to the back of my head, "But so much harder to grab on to."

"You're about to start something we don't have time to finish."

He quickly let go but the smile he had stuck around until we parked the car. "I'll keep your suggestion in mind next time I have a breakdown." I laughed opening my door

We headed down to the tunnels, Damon led the way. A little ways in we heard voices, I immediately recognized them as Elena and Alaric's. Damon put his hand out stopping me, smiling he put his finger to his lips and pointed towards the noise. I smiled back, catching what he was going to do. We silently moved through the tunnels until we caught up, "Elena." Damon whispered. I stifled a laugh as I watched her jump, she whipped around running into Damon, "Boo!" He shouted.

At this point, my howling laughter echoed through the tunnels. "It's not funny Alexis."

I stepped out still laughing, "You're right it's hilarious."

"I could have staked him." She argued back.

"But you didn't." 

She huffed turning around and following behind Ric, "So you really can't get in?"

"Nope. It would seem the ancient Lockwood's were anti-vampire." Damon replied. "And this is as far as we go." Damon stopped. I held my hand up feeling the invisible barrier.

"I bet I can get in," I smirked.

"How about we don't test it." Damon replied, raising his eyebrow.

"Ugh, you brought blood bags, the living versions are in a place that even if I can get it, I literally can't touch them." 

"Sounds like a really bad idea to me."

"Fine." I huffed sitting on the floor.

"What do you mean ancient?" Elena asked.

"See for yourself." Damon replied pointing into the cave.

"What do you see?" I asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Elena replied, "What is all this?"

Ric cleared his throat, I could see his flashlight bouncing around, "As far as I can tell it's a story, a really old story. If you look here, you can see the moon cycle, and here this looks like a wolf and a man."

"A werewolf?"

Damon sat down next to me and laughed, "Yeah it's the Lockwood Diaries, Pictionary style."

I laughed as I drew in the dirt, "There are actual real-life cave drawings in there and I can't even see them." I whined.

  
  


"We're taking lots of pictures if it makes you feel any better," Elena replied looking around the corner.

"It doesn't." I rolled my eyes.

"So I don't understand, I thought the Lockwood's came here with the original families in the 1800's."

"Maybe the Lockwood's did but there were werewolves here long before that," Ric answered as I heard the camera click away.

"How long?"

"Long." Damon said, "Show her the best part, Ric."

I saw his flashlight Bob around a few times, "Right here these are names. They're written in Runic. It's a Viking script."

"Vikings?" Elena and I both replied.

"This one translates to Niklaus, Elijah, Rebekah."

"You've got to be shitting me." I smacked my hand against my head, "Ric how far would you say we are from the entrance to the cemetery?"

"I don't know half a mile maybe."

"Left or right?"

He thought for a moment, "Right. Is there a point to this?"

"However far up, open sky is, that's where I brought Cate back. We're under where they became vampires."

"There's no way this has to be one of Klaus's fakes." Elena argued.

"Well here's more proof, this name here means Mikael."

"Like the Vampire hunter that hunts Vampires?"

"Bingo!" Damon exclaimed, "Or as I like to call him, Papa Original."

"I'm starting to get a real bad feeling about waking this guy up," I said from my spot in the dirt.

Ric made his way through the tunnel, "I've got enough pictures, we can look at them back at my place." 

I stood up brushing myself off and headed towards the exit. The trip to Ric's was quiet, except Elena once again trying to get the best of me as I walked through the door, I easily kicked her feet from under her and she landed on her back with a groan, "Gotta be quicker than that." I smirked standing over her.

Damon and Ric worked on developing the pictures, more Alaric than Damon, he mostly stood around making sure I didn't lose it while Elena practiced her new skills with me as a test dummy.

Ric started laying pictures on the tables, "So all of these tell a story and to figure that out we need to know exactly what these mean."

I closed my eyes listening to Ric, I held my hand up at the last second catching Elena's stake, twisting her arm behind her back. If I pressed too hard one way I'd snap her arm, too far the other and she'd stab herself with the stake. I let her go and smiled, "Sucks to suck huh?"

"Shut up, it's easy when you're the vampire." She snapped back.

"Be nice," Damon said without looking up.

"Yeah because you're the poster child for how to treat your siblings." Elena's comment had me laughing, hard enough I almost caught a stake in the neck.

I pushed her off. "I thought Mason said the caves would lead us to a weapon to destroy Klaus."

"Does Mikael have a weapon?" Elena asked. She tried a new move as she rushed towards me, I dropped down causing her to fall over me, with lightning speed I was on top of her hands on her head, "Boom dead." I made a snapping sound as I gently twisted her head.

She pushed me and I got up, "I assume Mikael has a weapon and the walls will lead us to Mikael. Who we already found and lost." Damon explained.

"Well, maybe these will at least tell us what that weapon is." Ric added.

"Well, I say if the story is about the original family, maybe we should go straight to the source." Elena spun around, stake aimed at my heart, my hand blurred out grabbing her arm. Twisting it so now it was aimed at her chest, "Ow shit." She pulled away. I must have nicked her with the tip, her side was bleeding through her shirt.

The smell hit me and a switch flipped, it was like the vampire part knocked my humanity over the head and stole the controls. My face shifted and I lunged for Elena, she fell back as Damon's arms wrapped around my waist, "Alexis! Stop!" He tightened his grip knowing if he didn't hold on I'd get loose and there would be a whole world of problems. He managed to get me pinned against a wall, I was still pulling towards Elena and Ric. "Stop, focus, it's your sister." 

Ric was ready with a dart gun, Damon shook me again, "Look at me, focus on me." My face went back to normal along with my attitude. "Stay right here." 

I nodded, guilt making it almost impossible for me to talk.

"I'm fine Alexis." Elena said from the corner.

Damon grabbed the bag and my arm, "I'm going to check on Stefan."

In the hallway I stopped Damon, "You need to lock me up."

"I thought you didn't want to be locked up."

"I don't but Damon, I don't know what the hell just happened in there. I was fine and then I wasn't."

"Well get a couple more blood bags in you and you'll be right as rain. Besides if I lock you up now you're going to miss all the fun."

I raised my eyebrow, "What fun?"

"That's for me to know and you to dot, dot, dot." He kissed me on the forehead and led me down the stairs.

He had me drink a few blood bags before we went into the jail. Elena had called as we were walking, apparently, Rebekah decided she wanted to talk. Hopefully, Elena would walk out alive. "I need a vacation," I mumbled as we walked down the steps. The old metal door still locked up tight with Stefan behind it.

"You could just lock me in there with him for a couple of days. I'd probably annoy him enough he'd flip his switch just to shut me up."

"And have the little ripper in you unintentionally blood share with my brother? No thank you."

"I had not thought of that, nevermind."

"You don't need to be locked up." He said, pulling open the lock.

"I'm glad one of us is sure." I shrugged walking in.

Stefan looked terrible, his eyes were dark, his head was slumped over, Rise and shine, brother!" Damon yelled.

Stefan's head rolled from side to side before he lifted it up, "If I'm going to be down here for the next decade or so, you don't need to visit."

"Oh come on, Elena is a big fan of this Lexi recovery plan, she wants you to feel again," Damon smirked.

"Did we really come here to torment your brother?" I asked, leaning on the wall.

"Why are you here? Neither one of you gives a rats ass about Elena." Stefan spat.

I stood up ridged from the wall, stalking over to Stefan, "Some of us still care, Stefan."

"If you cared so much then why are you letting her near Rebekah, she could snap her neck in a second."

I looked up panicked at Damon, his face was blank, "Nice try little brother, see you're compelled to protect Elena and if you thought for a second she was in danger, you would be trying much harder to get out of here."

Stefan laughed, but it was hollow, "You got me." He said sarcastically. "You really got me, now go away!"

Damon stood in front of him for a moment, "You've given up haven't you?"

Stefan didn't respond, Damon let out a humph and then broke the chains holding Stefan down.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I think we all need a drink. Screw this Lexi plan." Damon spat.

"Elena is going to be so pissed," I mumbled following the brothers out.

Walking into the bar wasn't what made me nervous, it was all the people. Everything seemed extra noisy, and in my gut, I felt like bringing Stefan here was a bad idea. I watched as Damon compelled the petty bartender to let Stefan feed on her. He blocked my view, it didn't help the smell. I walked into the bathroom splashing water on my face. When I came back out Stefan was sitting with the bartender on his lap, I mentally gagged and made my way to the empty chair between them and Damon.

I immediately took the bottle pouring a shot for myself, Stefan pulled himself away from his human blood bag, "She's delicious, wanna taste?"

"No thanks," I replied before shooting my drink, it did little for my cravings and even less for the guilt I was feeling right now. With very little thought behind it, I bit my hand letting the blood pool into the shot glass. Damon raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything, "Callie, right?" She pulled away from Stefan, who let her go with no resistance. I looked her right in the eyes, "Drink this." She took the glass shooting it back.

"Carry on." I waved at them.

"Why did you do that?" Damon asked quietly.

"Because I can't handle the thought that he's probably going to kill her and I did absolutely nothing to help her."

"What about the…"

"Sire bond? It's not a dirty word. What about it? I tell her to go on and live her normal vampire life, maybe make her a ring for her troubles."

Guilt flashed across his own face, he'd been the one that compelled the bartender after all. They played quarters bouncing back and forth neither one of them missing. Damon's questions were meant to push buttons but it seemed Stefan was used to this game, giving the most shallow answer to each one. I'd been through almost a whole bottle by myself. "I need some air." I finally said slamming my glass on the table. Truly all this self-control was killing me and I wanted to have 5 seconds of quiet with a blood bag in the car. Damon nodded at me and I walked outside.

I walked over to the Camaro, popping the truck. It only took a second of digging through the bag before I found my prize. I popped the top taking a long drink after the extra annoying afternoon. Holding my head a little higher I walked back into the bar, Damon already had one person to worry about, I didn't really want to add myself to the list.

The table we had been sitting at was empty, with a quick look I found them at the bar, "All I'm saying is while Klaus is alive you have to do everything he says. So you can either be a bitch about it or you can get mad." Damon said with determination.

"What do you want me to do Damon? He can't be killed." Stefan replied.

A man's voice came from behind me, "I believe I can help with that." Before I could turn around his hand was on my shoulder and a stake in my back, the tip scraping against my heart with every beat, "Try not to move too much, White Oak can be quite deadly." I froze, literally scared to move. "The Salvatore brothers I presume?"

The brothers looked like deer in headlights as Mikael steered me a little closer, "Where is Klaus?" He asked.

"I can't tell you." Stefan replied.

"Is he in the country?"

"I can't tell you."

"What can you tell me?"

"Klaus compelled me to shut the hell up and do what he says. So that's what I do." She shrugged.

"He doesn't like me when his emotions  _ are _ on, you're barking up the wrong tree." I gasped as he pushed the stake in a little more, I held back a scream. Mikael pulled the stake out, and I fell to my hands and knees "Well then maybe we'll need to get a little more personal." He was a blur, his hand in Damon's chest, I looked up at Stefan begging him with a look.

"One little twist and he's dead, what's the magic question?" Stefan still didn't speak, "Sorry Damon."

"WAIT!" Stefan finally yelled, "I can get Klaus back, I can bring him back to Mystic Falls."

Mikael pulled his hand back and started wiping it with a handkerchief, "There's the loophole. Brink Klaus back to Mystic Falls and I'll gladly drive a stake through his heart. Fail and I'll drive it through yours.

I pulled myself off of the floor as he walked past me. I moved quickly over to Damon, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, you?"

I nodded, "I'd say it's time to get the hell out of here."

  
  
  



	9. Humanity is a Vampire's Greatest Weakness

**I only own my OC. I'm sorry for the delay, my kid has gone to zero naps a day and we're potty training, so I haven't had a whole lot of time…. Of course, it happens when I start a second story :(**

  
  


"So how exactly are we doing this?" I asked, "Because it's not going to take much for Klaus to catch on, one wrong word and it's over."

"Says the one who can't actually die." Stefan snapped.

"Oh, I don't know felt pretty close when Mikael had that fucking stake in my back."

"Seriously? can you two just stop?" Elena yelled, pacing around the library.

"We tell Klaus that Mikael followed you in here intent on using you as bait," I suggested.

"And what one of you vervained him?"

"Alexis, but maybe add in that fun brain-melting thing. Gotta make it believable." Stefan clarified.

"And then  _ we _ ," Stefan pointed between Damon and himself, "found the dagger that he was going to use on Rebekah, so one of us drove it through his heart." 

"Pause." I said loudly, "It's got to be me or Elena if one of you did it you'd be dead."

"Elena, Klaus doesn't like you." Stefan smirked getting up from his chair.

"No Klaus likes me too much and is just butt hurt I'm not on his team."

"Annnnyway." Damon walked over, leaning on the back of the couch, "What happens when he wants to see the body?"

"Well don't look at me. I'm just making the phone call to get him back here." Stefan shrugged.

"Well here's where we hit a snag because Klaus is definitely going to want to see a body." I didn't like this plan, way too much could go wrong.

"Then I shall be dead." The British accent wafted through the library.

"And what happens when Klaus wants to see you in person?" Elena crossed her arms.

"Then it means the plan is working. Klaus won't leave anything to chance when it comes to a matter of trust." Mikael pulled out a bottle that I immediately recognized as white oak ash. I made a mental note to snatch that. 

"Where's the stake?" I asked, putting some space between Mikael and me.

"Not here." He dipped the dagger in the ash, "Since I am the only one who knows of its location, I'm considering it my insurance policy."

"Against what?" Elena asked.

"You, leaving this, in my heart." He held the dagger out to her, she took it in a shaky hand. Elena took a deep breath and shoved it into his chest. Mikael fell to the ground, "Make the call." Rebekah said walking into the library.

"We're all going to die." I groaned walking out.

  
  


* * *

"You seem chipper this morning," Damon said, following me into the kitchen.

"There is so much that can go wrong here. Like I don't even know where to start. Oh, how about the fact that if this goes south were all gone by to be taking tips from Kathrine on avoiding Klaus 101."

"You're really freaking out about this aren't you?"

"Clearly!" I huffed, angrily.

Damon smirked for a second before his face turned serious, "Get out."

"Excuse me."

"Your sister is going home to find something to wear, go with her. Go do something normal."

"You say that like it's so easy."

"Go, when you come back I'll let you help with the wolfsbane grenades."

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the kitchen, I turned to head towards the stairs.

"Wrong way!" Damon yelled from the kitchen.

I huffed heading outside.

* * *

Busting through Elena's door, I saw Bonnie sitting on her bed, "What are you doing here?" Elena asked, popping out of her closet.

"I've been banished from the boarding house." I flopped down on her bed.

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm overflowing with negativity."

"Well you've come to the right place," Elena sighed, pulling out a dress, "I have nothing to wear." I leaned over digging through her nightstand, "What are you doing?"

"Where's your snacks?" I looked up.

"In the kitchen like normal people." She huffed, "Can you focus."

"I'm focused just not on your problem, I like the blue one." I sat up looking at the pictures Bonnie had.

"We could just not go." Bonnie signed, "We could stay here, be lazy, order take out, and over-analyze ancient hieroglyphic thingies with Alaric."

"One problem with that." Elena started.

"What's that?"

"Caroline." Elena and I replied.

"Caroline has a date." Bonnie slammed her book shut.

"Technically so do I." I shrugged, earning a nudge from Bonnie.

"You can talk about Jeremy you know." Elena sat down on the bed.

"What's there to talk about? He fell in love with his dead ex-girlfriend and lied about it. It's done." 

"You need to talk about it. We're mad at him too." 

"You're mad at him like he's your little brother, you guys will yell at him, teach him a life lesson and then it'll be over. You can't be mad at him like I am."

"I'll kill him for you." I said, "Seriously."

"Alexis! That's our brother!"

"I'd make sure he was wearing his ring, damn!"

"I'm not sure if I should be honored or violently appalled." Bonnie chimed in.

"Honestly, probably the second one."

"What is wrong with you?" Elena huffed.

"That's a long list and we are on a time limit. Blue dress, black heels. We done? I have explosives to build."

"No wonder Damon kicked you out of the boarding house," Elena grumbled.

"Well, this didn't make my day any better." I spat back as I walked out of her room, slamming the door behind me.

* * *

"Go do normal shit, it'll fix your mood." I grumbled to myself as I walked into the boarding house. No one was in the parlor so I walked upstairs, laying back on the bed once I'd gotten to Damon's room.

"I heard someone's feeling a little murdery today."

"She is the biggest fucking tattle-tail." I groaned sitting up.

Damon walked out of the bathroom and over to the bed, "Threatening to actually kill your brother falls slightly outside the realm of tattle-telling."

"Again, I would have made sure he had his ring on." I propped my elbows on my knees, running my hands over my face, "I'm just so overwhelmed with everything. I thought if I could fix just one thing. I'd get five fucking minutes of peace." I lifted my head and looked at Damon. "Overkill it may have been but it would have made me feel better for a second."

"Well, tonight we're killing Klaus, which means peace for quite a few people."

"And then what Damon? What item on the ever-growing list do we tackle next?"

He grabbed my hands pulling me off the bed, "I don't know, but tonight we take out some of that rage on Klaus's hybrids." 

"So no killing Jeremy then?"

"Uh, no. Ring or not it'll create some resentment."

"Fine." I groaned following him into the bathroom.

  
  


It wasn't long before Elena showed up, still in the sour mood from earlier. "Still being a bitch?" She asked, dumping parts for the grenades on the counter.

I was propped in the empty bathtub with a blood bag, "Well given our shining example of a birth mother, " I took a sip and smiled, "I'd say it's ingrained in my DNA."

"A simple yes would have been fine." She rolled her eyes, "I don't trust Rebekah." 

"Yeah because these original vampires have proven to be so trustworthy," Damon replied.

"Rude," I said climbing out of the tub, moving to the sink.

"I'm not sure I can trust you either." Elena snapped, "I mean you did threat-"

"Jesus fuck Elena, If I pinky promise not to, will you shut up about it?"

She stood there, mouth open, clearly thinking of something to say, "Just go find something to do, we don't need you blowing off a finger." I said, a little nicer.

She moved back a few steps leaning on the doorway, "There's so much that can go wrong tonight, too many pieces in play." She mumbled.

"My thoughts exactly." 

"Which is why I have a secret contingency plan." Damon added, handing me one of the bombs.

"What is it?" 

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret." He smirked.

Footsteps crossed Damon's bedroom and Stefan appeared in the doorway, "I need a tie." 

"You have your own ties." Damon argued. 

"I'm 162 years old going to a high school dance for the millionth time, I need better ties."

"You could just not go." Elena moved from the doorway and over to the sink.

"Nice try, but I'm compelled to protect you, and you have a pretty tragic record at high school dances." He grinned back. Looking down at the sink he frowned, "Please tell me your plan is more than wolfsbane grenades."

I set the one I'd been working on down and moved towards Stefan, "Go away, the less you know the better."

"My future rests on this plan, please excuse me if I'm a bit of a cynic."

"It's you we could be worried about, one wrong question and the whole thing goes to hell." Elena said angrily.

"I'm sorry, but if we look at the list of epic fuck ups we've had, it's normally because someone's humanity got in the way. I can assure you if that's the case it won't be  _ me _ who messes it up." He turned and walked out of the room.

"So what are we going to do about Rebekah?" I asked quietly.

"I'll handle it." Elena walked out of the room. I fidgeted with the last grenade and sighed, "Have I mentioned we're all going to die yet?"

Damon took the explosive from my hand and tossed it up in the air, "Guess we're going out with a bang." He caught it effortlessly and smirked.

"Not helping." 

I helped Damon get bags of weapons ready, we'd finished about the time a bang came from above us, "Well either Elena is dead or she got the jump on Rebekah." I said looking up.

"You never know, maybe she got tired of Stefan's shit and staked him." He shrugged and I followed him up to Stefan's room.

"In the back, that's cold." Damon said with an impressed tone.

"Damn that was such a pretty dress." I mumbled walking in behind him.

"It had to be done, she was never going to truly be on our side." Elena was looking at her feet, perched on the end of Stefan's bed.

"You do know she's coming after you when someone pulls this out of her?"

"Thank you, I feel much better now."

"I would have done the same thing." I shrugged.

"Stefan's right, someone is going to let their humanity get in the way." Elena sighed hopping off the bed, "and it's probably going to be me."

"You daggered someone tonight, I'm thinking your humanity is in the right place." Damon added, throwing a sheet over Rebekah.

"Yeah but I feel bad about it, that makes me the weak link."

"I mean, she's not actually dead if that makes you feel any better." 

"I haven't felt good about this plan from the get-go." I said.

Elena looked between Rebekah and Damon, "We can't trust Mikael."

"Or Stefan, not being under Klaus's compulsion."

"So we need a better plan." Elena agreed.

"I wasn't kidding earlier, I have one." Damon said suddenly, "but neither of you are going to like it."

"Why?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

"I'm just going to need you guys to trust  _ me _ ."

* * *

  
  


"I think I like this plan less than the first." I groaned pulling at the hem of my dress, "and while I appreciate you buying me pretty things, I need them to be slightly larger than postage stamps." Damon laughed from the doorway, "I like it."

"Yeah well, it's not really indicative of fighting hybrids." I brushed past him to the closet quickly finding the dress from my birthday, needing something easier to move in.

"Nice shoes, don't want to look too comfortable."

_ How does he do that? _ I thought to myself as my hand moved from the comfy Converse to a pair of black heels. "If we're going for authenticity then barefoot really is the way to go." I laughed walking out of the closet.

"Ok so change of plans." Elena said rushing into the room, "Homecoming's been moved to Tyler's "

"That's… odd."

"Well that's not all, Rebekah was supposed to be Matt's date, he's downstairs."

"You left him down there with Kathrine!" 

"He drinks vervain and is now aware of the plan." She said simply.

"I still don't see why I have to go with  _ her."  _ I crossed my arms looking past Elena, as Kathrine stepped behind her.

"It'll look like a sisterly bonding moment," Damon said, drawing my glare away from the doorway, "meanwhile, Elena is here safe and sound. Plus God help whoever gets in the way of you two."

"Stick to being cute." I rolled my eyes.

"Because you're not funny." Kathrine added.

"Enough ganging up on me, go."

"Don't let him do anything extra stupid." I mumbled to Elena on my way out, she nodded and I made my way down the hall.

"You better have a good poker face." Kathrine drawled as we got to the parlor.

"You better not fuck this up." I growled back.

"I've been running from Klaus for a long time. No one needs this to work more than I do."

* * *

Pulling up to the Lockwood Manor, the party was in full swing, people everywhere, "This is crazy, how the hell did Tyler do this in an hour?" I said getting out of the car.

Walking through to the backyard, there was a stage and a band with a crowd of people, "Something tells me he didn't." Kathrine mumbled.

Caroline spotted the three of us, as she walked over I whispered to Matt, "She doesn't know anything, act natural."

"So Klaus is here." Caroline whined.

"Really?" Matt replied with fake curiosity.

"Yeah, apparently Tyler thought it would be a good idea to throw his sired zombie master a party. Can't say I am surprised."

"I've learned to never be surprised by anything Klaus does." Kathrine huffed.

  
  


"Oh." I interrupted, "I see Bonnie we should go say hi." I grabbed Kathrine's hand and dragged her away from the other two.

"Speak of the hybrid." Her voice was low, intending me being the only one to hear her. I lifted my head to see Klaus walking towards us with a smug look on his face, "Ladies, enjoying the party?"

"Who knew you were such a sucker for homecoming." I snapped, crossing my arms.

"Nothing calls for more of a celebration than the death of my father. I've only been planning it for 1000 years." He took a sip from his drink, "So where are the dates?"

"Sisterly bonding time," I replied through gritted teeth, linking my arm with Katherine and resisting the urge to puke.

He got a little closer to "Elena," looking her up and down, "You look nervous."

"I'm not nervous, I just don't like you." She snapped back.

"So I hear you two are to thank for my father's demise." His eyes locked on Kathrine, "Not easy to dagger an original."

"I've done it before, and I had help." Kathrine nudged her head towards me.

"Ahh yes, the joys of having a witch in your pocket." Klaus shifted his weight crossing his arms, "Let's get one thing straight shall we? Whatever it is you're planning, it won't work. People have been after me for a thousand years and I'm always one step ahead."

"We're not planning anything, paranoia is a terrible look for a hybrid." I smirked.

"Well then I guess that's a good thing for your boyfriend, see this place is full of hybrids and dead or not they have to do what I say. If anything should happen to me, Damon is going down too." He smiled, "Enjoy the party ladies " he stepped past us and into the house.

"He's been playing chess while we've been playing fucking checkers." I groaned.

"We need to find Stefan." She replied urgently.

We took opposite sides of the property, meeting out front, neither of us could find him and were getting no answer on his cell. "Maybe he went back to the house to get Mikael."

Heels off we were both rushing through the woods and back to the boarding house. Seeing Stefan on the floor of the library I ran down to get blood bags while Kathrine tried to wake him up.

She was crouched over him as I walked back into the library, "Here." I called out as I tossed her a blood bag. Stefan sat up as Kathrine explained the kink in our plan, I paced back and forth freezing when she finished with, "If Klaus dies, Damon dies."

"So we pull the plug on the plan." Stefan suggested.

"And face the wrath of Mikael?" Kathrine stood up. "We'll all be dead. If Klaus dies we all get our freedom but then what? Damon will be dead, your brother will be dead." Her head snapped over to me, "And this one her humanity is hanging on by a thread, she'll tear your favorite little town to pieces."

"Excuse you." I snapped back.

"What do you want  _ me _ to do?" Stefan asked, getting up.

Kathrine's focus moved back to Stefan, "You need to care, I know that's hard, switch flipped and everything but you need to care enough to save Damon. I'm going back to that party, I'm playing my part and seeing this plan through."

As if on cue a text from Damon came through,  **Where are you?**

"So what's it going to be Stefan?" I asked looking up from my phone, without a word he was gone, Kathrine and I right behind him.

Kathrine was on her way to the front of the house to play the damsel in distress, while I snuck off to hide until just the right moment. Making my way inside I slipped into the parlor just off the front entrance. Klaus was already at the door having his verbal pissing match with his father.

"You forget these hybrids may be sired to you but they are part vampire, which means they can be compelled by me." Mikael's voice boomed through the hall. I heard Kathrine's fake gasp of pain when she was handed off. Damon had been right not to trust him not to actually hurt her.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to call your bluff father." Klaus retorted.

"If she dies, then this group of hybrids will be your last."

"I don't care about them, only to be rid of you, kill her."

Knowing it wasn't actually Elena was the only thing keeping me glued to my spot. I had to wait, I didn't know who had the stake.

"Come out here you coward and I won't have to." Mikael's voice was dripping with venom.

Klaus was having no part of it, "See you've always underestimated me, if you kill her then you have no leverage. So get on with it, kill her."

"Your impulse has always been the one thing that kept you from being truly great." I heard Kathrine groan and thump to the ground. In a flash Damon was running out of the office, he grabbed Klaus by the shoulder and spun him around, shoving the stake into his stomach. I went to make my move but Stefan blurred past me knocking Damon to the ground, the stake flying out of his hand and landing in the doorway. Kathrine's wolfsbane grenades exploded as I slid across the floor. I jumped up grabbing the stake poised between Mikael and Klaus, "Stefan gets his freedom." I mumbled, not waiting for a reply, I twisted around slamming the stake through Mikael's chest. The second my hand left the wood it burst into flames, the original vampire with it.

"What the hell did you do?" Damon yelled.

Klaus stood up and Damon disappeared, Stefan was close to the door looking to bolt. Klaus stepped in front of him, "You no longer have to do what I say, thank you."

He blinked and was gone, Klaus turned facing me, "Looks like we'll be tormenting each other for a while."

"Don't make me regret this more than I already do." I snapped.

* * *

  
  


I walked into the boarding house about the time Damon through a bottle of booze at the wall. He looked up and the anger was written all over his face, Elena sat on the couch looking angry as well, "What the hell were you thinking?" Damon yelled.

"Elena you should go," I said quietly, stepping down into the parlor.

"No, I'd like to know myself." She snarled.

"Klaus knew something was up, his hybrids were ordered to kill you if anything happened." I looked right at Damon, I wasn't sorry or guilty, given the chance I'd do it all over again.

"So once again you just jumped in and decided to save me?" Damon snapped, "You ruined everything because you thought I couldn't handle myself."

"Elena, you got your answer now go!" I growled, she got up quickly and headed towards the door, "Yes Damon, I threw the whole thing away, prolonged the problem, you know what else I did? I earned Stefan his freedom, killed an original vampire that fucking  _ kills vampires,  _ and I made sure you walked out alive. If you're looking for an apology I don't have one for you."

"And what about your sister? With Klaus still around, she's what makes his hybrids work."

"Then we figure out a way to solve that problem next. I solved more problems than I caused tonight." At this point, we were both shouting.

"We could have solved all of them had you said something rather than just run off with Kathrine on some half-brained idea."

"Well I didn't, I did exactly what I said I would do. I chose you, selfishly, and without a moment's thought."

"We could have figured something else out!"

"What call off the plan? I doubt any of us would have been left standing once Mikael was finished. There were three dozen hybrids that I  _ noticed _ , I'm good but I'm not that good, they would have torn you to shreds."

"We would have figured something out!"

"No we wouldn't have, and until you come to grips with that, we have nothing left to talk about." I turn on my heel ignoring the nursing feeling of his eyes in my back.

I made it to my truck, gripping the steering wheel hard. I had no idea what we were going to do now, what was going to happen with Elena being the key to the hybrids. Maybe I should swallow my pride and call Cate, would she even know what to do or even want to help? My phone ringing pulled me out of my thoughts, "Not in the mood Stefan." I snapped as I answered the phone.

_ "I need some of that rage for something, care to help me out?" _

I rolled my eyes as I pulled out of the driveway, "What?" I replied with a huff.

  
  


**Well there it is another chapter in, what did you guys think?**

  
  
  
  



	10. So Much for Secrecy

**I only own my oc.**

I pulled up to the address Stefan had sent me, getting out of the truck I quickly looked around. Not seeing or hearing anyone I made my way through the parking lot. Finally hearing something behind me I whipped around and ended up face to face with Stefan, "What the hell?"

He shrugged and walked past me towards a large moving truck, "Before I open this door I need to know that you won't tell anyone what we're doing."

"Well after tonight pretty much everyone hates me so. I'll swear to secrecy."

He jumped up onto the step of the truck, "I take it things with my brother didn't go so well?"

"Understatement of the year," I replied, rolling my eyes. Stefan lifted the handle throwing open the door and revealing four coffins, "What the hell have you dragged me into?"

"We're stealing Klaus's family," Stefan smirked and for the first time, I saw the family resemblance between him and Damon.

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" I hissed. 

"No that's why I called you, we need to move these," he pointed across the aisle to another moving truck, "to there, now stop talking and grab one."

It took us no time at all to load the coffins, following Stefan down the familiar roads in my truck since he wouldn't tell me where we were going. Finally stopping at the old witch house, Stefan got out of the moving van as I got out of my truck. "Now what smart guy?"

"You are going to hide them."

"Temporarily," I added.

"Why?"

"Because Kathrine was right, my humanity is hanging on by a thread. Damon thinks I care too much, then maybe I just shouldn't care, at all. Seemed to work out great for the crazy bitch herself, worked for my mother too until Klaus got a hold of her."

"If I have to care then you do too."

"Elena is heartbroken over all of this you know?" I said helping bring the daggered originals inside. 

"She needs to move on, I'm too dangerous this way. If I hurt her I'd never forgive myself."

"You wouldn't have to because I'd kill you," I smirked before walking out of the room. I carefully started casting spells around the old house, concealing the caskets was the next task, "I need some of your blood." 

"For?" 

"It wouldn't be personalized witchcraft without it," I replied simply. Stefan walked over, "Just a couple drops over the candle." He bit into his hand and I followed suit, the candle flamed up as the last couple drops hit the wick before going out.

"Now what?"

"Now I go home." 

"Wait, how do you know it worked?"

I smiled and snapped my fingers, Stefan turned around, "Where the hell did they go?" I snapped again and they reappeared, "Do you doubt me now?" I didn't wait for an answer walking out and into the woods, the sun was just coming up casting an orange glow over the leaves on the ground. I took a deep breath before getting into my truck and heading home.

* * *

Days had passed since helping Stefan, after an epic argument with Elena, I packed up some shit and used a trick of Damon's, opting for the third nicest foreclosure in town (couldn't have them find me too quickly).

Caroline had snuck into the boarding house and gathered all my witchy stuff, she was currently the only person who knew where I was sleeping. I stayed to myself at school avoiding Elena, I couldn't answer the questions she wanted answers to. I went by the witch house every couple days to make sure my spells were still holding and drop some blood bags off for Stefan. I'd stolen half a freezer full from a hospital a few towns over, hoping to keep from being noticed.

One dreary night while I was hunkered in my secluded fortress I'd heard a thump on my front porch, silently sliding around I saw no one outside. When I opened the door a large brown box was waiting for me, I looked around quickly and hurried inside, placing the box on the table. Opening it, I saw a large leather-bound book, I opened the front cover and pulled out the note, immediately recognizing the handwriting, "Cate." I said quietly and looked at the note, _From what I've been hearing you need this more than some dusty storage shed. Thanks for occupying Klaus while I took back what belonged to me._

"Of course she knew," I mumbled. Part of me was glad to know she was still alive. I pulled the book out and walked over to the couch, lightly thumbing through the worn yellow pages. While most of the books I had of hers were more spell books and journals, this one was clearly just a journal. Inspecting the pages a little closer I noticed several were smeared with blood, like she had it on her hand while she was writing.

A couple of hours later I realized why. This journal was only written in when she was on a binge. The pattern was vaguely familiar to some of the journals I'd read with Klaus. Almost like you could watch her hit rock bottom through her thoughts. 

She'd flip her switch every couple decades like it was a reset button. Until that method didn't work for her anymore. Being cut off from her magic made her feel worse than the emotions she tried to keep out. 

  
  


I don't know when I'd fallen asleep but when I opened my eyes I was still on the couch, book on the floor, lights still on. No, I hadn't fallen asleep, I'd passed out. I grabbed my phone off the table and looked at it, I swiped away the usually missed calls from Damon and Elena, still not wanting to talk to them. Elena had said some things I'm not sure I wanted to forgive, and Damon still couldn't accept why I'd thrown our whole plan away. I slowly pulled myself off the couch, taking my book upstairs. I threw it with the others, pulling a clean outfit out of my bag, throwing a hoodie on, and heading out

I groaned as I pulled up to the grill, seeing vehicles for both of the people I had been avoiding. I started to put the car in reverse but thought better of it. _This is my home too, if they want to be mad then fuck em_. 

Walking in I spotted Elena talking to Bonnie at one of the tables. Looking over to the bar Damon was rambling to Ric, who didn't even seem to be paying attention.

I decided I wasn't ready to have another huge fight with Elena so I took the lesser of two evils and walked up to the bar.

"Bloody Mary or screwdriver? Breakfast of champions." Damon asked a still not looking Ric.

"It's _noon_ and I thought Wheaties was the breakfast of champions," I said.

Damon spun around in his chair, "Where have you been?"

"She's been at school." Ric offered, "More than usual come to think of it, you two should break up more often."

"We didn't break up." Damon grumbled, "We're just not on great terms."

"Careful Damon sounds like you care." I snapped, before turning to the bartender and ordering a coffee.

"It's Sunday," Damon said quietly so I was the only one to hear.

"Shit." I mumbled, "On second thought can you make it a coke and cheese fries?" I called back to the bartender, "Togo." I added, I took a seat leaving space in-between me and Damon.

"So really where have you been?"

"Around," I replied, fiddling with a coaster.

"I checked the nicest and shittiest foreclosure."

"Well I obviously didn't want to be found so the nicest was out and you saw the shittiest, it was a little.."

"Disgusting." He replied, making a face, "I noticed some of your stuff is missing."

"I had Caroline come get it." I still hadn't looked up.

"Have you seen your brother?" Alaric asked, changing the subject.

"I talked to him this morning, last I heard he was going to hang out with Tyler."

"Tyler? He's supposed to work today."

"He got fired like a week ago." I shrugged.

"He's spiraling."

"So am I," I mumbled.

"Pidge?" Damon started.

The bartender right on time, brought my bag and drink out, "Look Damon, I'm really not in the mood," I stood up getting close enough I could whisper in his ear, "So unless you're ready to apologize or throw me an angry fuck, I'm not really interested."

He grabbed my hand, "I'll make you a deal." I raised my eyebrow as he continued, "Game of darts, I win, you drop this angry bitch act. You win, I'll give you both of those things."

"You're drunk." I scoffed.

"Should be an easy win for you then." He smirked.

"Fine, but just for the record this isn't an act, I'm fucking angry _and_ I'm a bitch"

I looked back over the restaurant and caught Elena staring at me.

"I'll meet you over there." I waved him off and walked over to the two girls, confident Bonnie wouldn't let it get too out of hand, "What?" I asked.

"What? What?" Elena replied, confused.

"Well, you were staring so I assumed you wanted to talk to me."

"Have you talked to Stefan?"

"No." I lied, I'd talked to Stefan more in the last few days then I'd probably talked to anyone, the truth was he missed Elena as much as she missed him, but until he was ready to let everything in, he needed to stay away.

"I'm sorry. For the fight, I shouldn't have called you selfish."

"I believe the words you used were, ungrateful, selfish, cunt." I hit the 't' hard to make my point.

"I didn't know that Klaus freed him. I had no idea he was staying away because _he_ wanted to." 

"Well, I'm not the sibling you should be worried about. Jeremy got fired and I'm pretty sure he failed something for history, I didn't get a good look at the paper Ric had." I said changing the subject. Bonnie shifted in her seat, "It's not your fault it's his." I said looking at her, "He cheated, he lied, he fucked up, you had every right to be upset, any decisions he makes, they are on him. Ok?" 

"Sounded like the old Alexis there for a second." Bonnie smiled back, "Bossy yet slightly inspirational."

"She comes and goes." I deadpanned.

"Damon's staring at you." Elena took a sip from her drink.

"I'm gorgeous, who wouldn't stare," she gave me a look and I clarified, "I made a bet, I'm stalling cause, I'm shit at darts but I'm kinda tired of being mad at him."

"So, you're horny?" Elena made a disgusted face, earning a raised eyebrow from me, "Better than bloodthirsty." I countered

"If you were still trying to be an ass, you'd suggest pool?"

"Oh, I'd stomp him at pool." I laughed, finally looking over towards the dartboard, Damon was indeed staring at me with a smirk, I looked back at Elena, "We'll talk about Jeremy later, I'll hold him down you wale on him." 

She laughed quietly, as I finally moved over to the dartboards.

"Stomp me at pool?" Damon chuckled.

"Oh for sure." I laughed, and picked up the darts, _Don't overthink it, don't overthink it._ Stepping up to the line I tried to rely on my vampire senses hoping it would help. Unfortunately, I overthought it, hitting just outside the bullseye once and the other two landing randomly on the board.

Damon laughed as he took the darts from me, "You really do suck at darts."

"So did you eavesdrop on the whole conversation?"

Damon didn't respond, throwing his darts, they landed in almost identical positions to mine, "Maybe I was hoping you'd win." He shrugged.

"You could save me the embarrassment and just apologize, Elena did."

"From my understanding, Elena said some pretty nasty shit."

"I'll give you that, our conversation was tame compared to me and Elena, I said some pretty rude things too, something like a co-dependant whiny brat." I threw the dart and a hand snatched it out of the air before it hit the board.

"And the _fuckery_ begins." I groaned as Klaus walked up. Elena was walking out and looked over, her eyes going wide, she quickly told Bonnie goodbye and joined us.

"You're going to do this here, in the grill, it's a little beneath you don't you think?" Damon snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to the local pub to grab a beer with a mate." A man with dark hair walked up beside Klaus, Elena tensed up beside me and her face held confusion mixed with fear. "Get a round would you Tony. The little witch likes whiskey." 

"What do you want Klaus?" I narrowed my eyes at him

"The books you stole from me for starters."

"Drop dead, they aren't yours. Besides, Cate stole them." I replied.

"You've seen Cate?" Damon asked, surprised.

"Not the point," I replied, gesturing to the original in front of us.

"She's quite right, you see the point is my sister seems to be missing, I need to sort that out."

"Psychotic blond? Haven't seen her." Damon smirked.

"I've actually grown quite fond of your little town, might fancy a home here. I'm sure you're wondering what that means for you. Well as long as I get what I want you can all go about your lives, you have my word."

"Your word is shit, Klaus." I snapped.

"Is it? Stefan is no longer compelled, I believe that was your demand when you stole the joy of killing my father."

"What more could you possibly want?" Elena asked.

"Stefan, I'm having a hard time locating him.

Now it was my turn to tense, I brushed it off in a second determined not to let anyone see.

"He skipped town after he helped save your ass." Damon spat, clearly still angry about the whole situation.

"Well see that's unfortunate because he's stolen something from me and I quite like it returned," Klaus smirked.

"Sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem to me," Elena replied.

_Boy, she's gotten ballsy,_ I thought, giving her a sideways glance.

"Well, this is me broadening the scope." Klaus's gaze fell on me, "What about you, love? Any idea where Stefan is?"

"Nope," I replied.

"Funny see, Tony says you _disappear_ into the woods pretty often these days."

"Sounds like your hybrid can't keep up." I shrugged, "Also not my problem."

"Sounds like a witch that doesn't want to be followed," Klaus growled, taking a step forward.

I matched his action, putting little space between us, "I'm not sure _what_ you're going for here but I'm not big on intimidation these days. Probably because I'm not fucking scared of you." 

"Alexis." Elena hissed.

I crossed my arms, ignoring her, "I have no problem showing you what those three days of hell felt like. The difference is I don't have to find another witch to prolong your suffering, I can sit there and watch." Well aware that I was playing a _very_ dangerous game, I couldn't help the smirk that rolled across my face along with the veins making a quick appearance under my eyes as Klaus looked mildly shocked. Confusion quickly replaced by anger. Damon, stepped between us, "Let's take this somewhere a little more private." He suggested.

I turned to Elena, "Go figure out what's going on with Jeremy, I'll come by later." 

"But-" she started.

"Go." 

With a huff she turned to find Ric, "I have stuff to do. I need a couple of hours."

"And what may I ask is so important?" Klaus asked.

"Oh, you know just some books to read." 

"Those are mine." He growled again.

"No, they aren't. Cate's back, living, breathing, walking around. They belong to her." 

"The books can wait," Damon said, again trying to defuse the situation I kept sparking back up.

"Ugh fine." I huffed. 

Klaus walked off to find his friend, I turned to head out to my truck, fully intending on bailing. Damon, seemingly a mind reader, grabbed my arm, "Oh no, no, no. You are coming with me."

I jerked my arm away, "We didn't finish the game, I still get to be a bitch." I stomped off.

It took about ten steps for him to catch up to me outside, "I noticed something else was missing."

"The dagger, yeah, I have it. I'm the only one left it can be used on and I wouldn't want it floating around. You need one bad enough you could always pull Rebekah's out." I opened the door of my truck, only for Damon to shut it.

"What is your problem? I'm really trying here."

"No Damon you're not. You're doing that stupid thing, where you act all cute and try and smirk your way out of _whatever_ you've gotten yourself into. Do you still believe I did the wrong thing killing Mikael?" He wasn't expecting the last part and his silence gave me all the answers I needed, "Thought so." I once again opened the door of my truck, "I'll meet you at the house." I said quietly as I got in the truck, slamming the door a little harder than necessary.

* * *

Walking into the boarding house you could feel the tension in the air. Klaus's head popped up as I walked into the library, "Ah my least favorite witch."

"Ah, the bane of my existence." I mocked back. Damon poured three drinks, I almost missed him dripping a little vervain in his. He handed Klaus one and held another out to me, "Come on I dug the old stuff out." He smirked.

"You're old stuff," I grumbled, taking the glass, I quickly sniffed it before taking a sip.

"I was wondering when we'd have a chance to get a drink together, what with all of your plotting and scheming against me." Klaus walked around the library almost admiring the books.

"You know me always happy to plan an epic failure." Damon snapped. Klaus turned to face him.

I stood there observing the way they were sizing each other up.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, who would have guessed witches were so wishy-washy? And your brother well that was just as shocking." Klaus still moved around the library, looking between Damon and the shelves.

"Wishy-washy?" I grumbled.

"Even now I bet I could get you to sing like a canary," Klaus stopped, staring Damon down.

"I'd snap your neck before you got there." I eyed him.

"My point is, _I_ knew with Damon on the line _you_ would have jumped through hoops to ensure I made it out alive."

"So we're just reinforcing the fact you're a manipulative ass." I snapped.

"Can we get through one conversation that doesn't almost end in a cage match between you two?" Damon put his hands on my shoulders and led me to a chair by the fireplace.

"Oh, I like the cage match idea," I smirked, ignored by both men.

"So neither one of you know where Stefan is?" Klaus asked.

"Not currently," I said smartly, technically not a lie. Klaus looked at Damon, who swirled his drink before taking a sip, "Like I said I haven't seen him."

"I can smell the vervain in your drink from here." Klaus sneered, "Since you can't be compelled I'll have to believe you're telling me the truth. I'd really hate to kill you, Damon, mostly because I believe you have the best chance of getting me what I want."

"What did he steal from you anyway?" I asked.

"My family, you see I kept them daggered until such a time that was safe to return them to the land of the living. It seems Stefan has gone and pinched the bloody lot."

"Sad story really but I don't work for you, and as you can see Pidge doesn't play well with others."

"Stop calling me that," I grumbled from my seat.

"Well that's unfortunate but seeing as you lot seem to respond best to acts of violence let's try that route, shall we?" And on a blink, he was gone.

"What the hell?" I said jumping out of the chair and heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked following behind me.

"To check on Elena." I reached my hand out for the door and Damon stopped in the hallway, "You know where his family is don't you?"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," I said quietly before rushing out and into my truck. I wasn't surprised to see the Camaro pull in behind me. In the short time, it had taken to get to the house a lot had happened. Klaus had apparently compelled Jeremy at some point to take off his ring and walk out into traffic, Alaric jumped in front of the car to save him.

"You're sure that guy driving was a hybrid?" I looked down at a very dead Ric.

"Yeah, I saw him on my jog this morning. There's no way he moved as fast as he did just being human." Elena replied, "Plus he's _friends_ with Klaus."

Damon was sitting in a chair off to the side, he'd been really quiet through all of this, "Where are the coffins, Alexis?"

"I don't know," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"Wait, coffins?" Elena asked, "How many?"

"I don't know." I shrugged again.

"Wait, you know where they are?" Jeremy suddenly yelled from the doorway. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me." I spat, "I _just said_ I don't know."

Jeremy walked over getting into my face, Elena jumped up getting between us, "Jeremy, calm down." She said quietly.

"I will not calm down! If she's going to toy with Klaus then the best thing for all of us is to pack out bags and get out of here." He yelled.

"Jeremy!"

"No Elena! This keeps happening, you can harp on me about school and losing my job at the grill all you want but the truth is, none of us are getting out of this town alive." He quickly turned around and walked out the door, slamming behind him.

"If you're not going to help you can leave too." Elena fell into one of the chairs.

"I'm helping just not the way everyone wants me to." I started towards the door.

"Seems to be a running theme with you lately," Damon said quietly.

I pretended like I didn't hear him and walked outside, feeling slightly irritated when I realized Damon had trapped me in the driveway. I wasn't going back in so I decided to walk through the woods. I ran a few circles around the falls before muttering the cloaking spell and took off towards the witch house, not letting the spell down until I was inside. "Stefan?" I called out.

Getting no answer I made my way into the basement, "Stefan? Come out, come out, wherever you are." He was standing in the corner of the room, "We need to talk."

"What?" He asked, moving around the room.

"Klaus came after Jeremy."

"And?"

"And, and he wants his fucking family back, Stefan." I snapped.

"I'm missing the part where this is my problem." 

"It's _your_ problem because _I'm_ the one hiding them. Klaus is coming after my family, do you not get that? And it's only a matter of time before they come here you know that too. Right?" 

"Did you tell them anything?"

"No, I-" Stefan clamped his hand over my mouth as voices made their way from upstairs. I could clearly make out Elena and Damon. Not wanting to be caught here, I quickly pulled myself away, " _Invisique."_ I mumbled before taking off upstairs and out the back door, making it back around to the front of the house and looking around before lifting the spell.

"Should have fucking known you'd be here."

"Ugh, I knew I should have waited." I turned around to see Damon's angry glare, "Why are you even helping him?"

"Because I understand _why_ he did it." I planted my feet and put my hands on my hips.

"And _why_ is that?" He asked unimpressed with my answer.

"Not my secret to tell." I shrugged.

"Oh that's a cop-out Alexis and you know it. You wouldn't have helped him do something so monumentally stupid unless you had your own reasons."

"I didn't say I didn't have reasons to hate Klaus, we all do. I _said_ I'm helping him because I agree with _his_ reasons." I looked over him towards the house, waiting to see Elena, "Why would you let her go in there alone anyway?"

Damon who was clearly processing the first thing I said mumbled, "I'm assuming you did something to mess with my ring."

"Well, once again you'd be incorrect." I hissed back.

"The witches are gone, Bonnie said so."

"Guess I'm not the only witch trying to hide them from Klaus." 

Damon's response was cut off as Elena angrily stomped through the doorway and down the porch. She stopped in front of me, her face twisted up in anger, "Did you know he was here?" 

Damon answered quickly, "No, she showed up _after_ we got here." Elena looked between the two of us, I tried not to look guilty while Damon just stood there, arms crossed with a blank face.

"So you don't know where Klaus's family is?"

"I'm pretty sure I made my lack of knowledge known in the living room before everyone started jumping to conclusions." I shrugged.

"So what do we do now?"

Damon took this one, "Take my car and go deal with Jeremy. Let the ones who can't be killed so easily deal with my ripper brother." He held out his keys and she slowly took them.

"I'll be by later. I'm sure Jeremy doesn't actually want to talk to me but.." I trailed off, she nodded and headed to Damon's car. I waited until she was out of earshot before I asked, "Why did you lie?"

He shrugged turning towards the house, "We thought to check here because Bonnie's been having dreams about it. Initially, I thought they were telling her where to look working against you, but since it looks like they are working with you, I need to know more."

"He's had himself holed up down there for days, good luck getting him to come out and talk to you." I scoffed.

Damon smirked before shooting off through the house, bouncing between shadows and downstairs. I stepped away from the door and not really sure I wanted to listen to their argument. Unfortunately, they brought it outside, Damon shoved a stick in Stefan's stomach, "That's for ruining our plan." 

"A little help." Stefan groaned.

"Damon.."

"Oh no, I want answers. Why?" Damon snapped at Stefan, pushing him back to the ground.

"Because piece by piece he took everything from me, so now I'm getting my revenge." Stefan pulled the stick out, and stood up, "He can't keep ruining people's lives and get away with it."

Damon's head snapped my direction, "and yours?"

"Think about it Damon, I mean there's Elena and if it wasn't for Klaus I'd be a half-ass normal vampire with a normal shelf life. Then to save you he gave me two choices that had no great outcome, we've been at each other's throats since I got back. Hell because of him I lost my choice to turn. The point is I've got a list a mile long." I huffed, "Let's not forget, not killing Klaus I saved you and earned Stefan's freedom.

Stefan's looked at me, "I asked Klaus for my freedom before you and Kathrine found me."

I raised my eyebrow, "Really?"

"I'm lost," Damon said looking between us.

"Seems our least favorite original might owe _me_ a favor."

"Not if he kills you first." Stefan scoffed.

"Ha!"

"I want in," Damon announced.

"No." Stefan snapped.

"If you are going after Klaus then you need to be deceitful, cutthroat. I know Alexis is capable of that but you? No, you need assistance." Damon smirked, his eyes flicking over to me and then back to his brother.

"Rude." I snapped, "or _thank, you?_ "

"It's a compliment." Damon winked, and I rolled my eyes.

"You want in?" Stefan asked his brother.

"I mean if the two of you are going to keep saving me then I should make myself useful, yeah?"

Stefan turned to me, I quickly held up my hands, "Don't look at me, you're fucking this cat, I'm just holding the ears."

Stefan turned back to his brother with a glare, "You tell Elena nothing."

"Scouts honor," Damon replied, holding up three fingers.

"Eating boy scouts doesn't make you one." I hissed from the porch.

Damon and Stefan ignored me, still staring each other down. Stefan was the first to break the silence, "Follow me." He walked up the steps and into the house.

"I can't go in there, the witches aren't really a fan of mine." Damon was looking at the doorway like it was going to bite him.

"If they can play nice with me, I'm sure you'll be fine." Pushing myself off the wall I stepped inside, "I can't show you the coffins if you don't come in." I added making my way down to the basement.

Damon slowly crossed the threshold and waved his hand in a spot of light, testing the witches' change of heart. "We all want the same thing," Stefan added from the bottom of the stairs.

As Damon walked past me he muttered, "We still need to talk."

"And we will now go." I ushered him downstairs, grabbing the candle I'd used for the original spell.

"So where are they?" Damon asked, annoyed.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Stefan who nodded, the candle lit itself, "Hand." I said matching Damon's earlier tone. He held it out and I ran my fingernail across his palm, he let out a hiss, "Hold still," I tilted his hand over the candle and let a couple of drops fall into it.

"I still don't see anything."

"My God, you are the most impatient-" I started.

"Yell at him later," Stefan cut me off.

"Close your eyes." Damon did with a huff as I mumbled the spell, "Open."

"Well aren't you a clever, little, witch."

"Always with the tone of surprise." I smirked, "I can't take all the credit, there's no way I'm holding all this together by myself. Which is part of the reason I was so against you finding them, this is more than just me and Stefan. Klaus has fucked over so many people it's about time he gets a little back."

"So we're the only ones who can see them?" Damon pointed between the three of us.

"Yep. I mean Elena clearly missed them and she was standing right there. Even if Klaus comes into the house, it'll just look empty. The best part," I snapped my fingers and the coffins disappeared, I walked over and stood in the middle of where one should be, "You could run around this whole room and not run into them. I am actually thinking of mashing this spell with the cloaking spell I already use and try to get rid of that whole smells like sandalwood thing." I looked over at an aggravated Stefan as I made my way back to the door, snapping my fingers again, "Here you big baby, now you can make sure they don't run away."

Damon's phone rang in his pocket, "Elena." He said quietly and headed upstairs.

"He's going to tell her," Stefan said, quietly.

"No, he's not. He's reckless, not stupid."

It wasn't long before Damon came back down telling me that _we_ needed to go. He relayed Elena's story, apparently, Ric's ring brought him back but didn't heal him, when Elena tried to get him to the hospital, Tony showed up, only to be killed by Jeremy.

"You go take care of Elena, I'll deal with Ric and meet you back at your house," Damon said calmly.

"You don't know where I live," I smirked.

"Really, now? You know what I meant." He narrowed his eyes and headed towards the hospital while I went home.

Elena and Jeremy were moving Tony when I walked up, "None of the neighbors saw right?"

"What do you care?" Jeremy snapped.

I ignored him walking inside and grabbing Damon's keys, Lifting Tony off the floor I walked back out throwing him into the trunk. Brushing past the two of them again and grabbing my own keys and tossing them to Jeremy, "Damon's on his way to the hospital to help Ric and then he's coming here, Alaric will need a ride home." Jeremy looked at the keys and me again a confused look on his face, "You wanted me to help, I'm helping."

He rolled his eyes before taking off. Elena through all of this had gone to fill a bucket up on the sink, "What are we going to do?" She asked as I walked in and sat down.

"Well we have a long list of problems, where would you like to start?"

"I'm talking about Jeremy." She leaned down pulling some bleach from under the sink.

"Ammonia works better." 

Elena looked at me, eyes wide, "I don't want to know _why_ you know that, do I?" She asked as she replaced the bleach and pulled another bottle from under the sink.

"Nope." I walked over, taking the bucket and scrub brush from her, "I'll take care of outside why don't you stay in here, just in case Klaus sends another minion."

"Actually I think I have another plan." She walked to the front door, grabbing her keys, "I'll be back."

"Elena!" I yelled after her, but she ignored me and ran to her truck. I let out a huff, "Fuck." 

By the time Damon showed up I'd gotten most of the mess off of the porch, "No spell for that?"

"Last I checked I wasn't fucking Harry Potter." I sat back on my heels and looked up at him, "Tony's decomposing in your car."

"Oh thanks, a dead Hybrid, what I've always wanted." 

"I didn't know what else to do with him." I shrugged and went back to scrubbing.

"I'll take care of it, where's everyone else?"

"Jeremy went to pick up Ric, I'm surprised you didn't see him. I'm not exactly sure where Elena ran off to, she said she had an idea and took off. She said she'd be back." I shrugged again.

"I'm going to go deal with the mutt, can you please just stay here, until I get back."

I looked up, if I didn't know better I'd say he was almost begging, "Yeah, Elena and I need to figure out the stuff with Jeremy anyway."

* * *

By the time Damon made it back, I'd done what I could for the porch and had moved to the sink cleaning up everything I used. Damon sat at the Island and we both turned around as a flustered Elena walked into the kitchen. "Is Jeremy back yet?" She asked, ignoring the glares from both of us.

"Where the fuck were you?" I snapped.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you. Queen of Bicker and Run." Elena replied.

"We weren't even fighting unless me telling you a better way to get out bloodstains was considered a throw down." Damon quirked an eyebrow up, "Don't look at me like that, I learned it from you."

"Your right I'm sorry I'm just… I'm worried about Jeremy, and you seem to just keep landing yourself on Klaus's shit list."

"I don't keep landing there, I've always been right at the top, thank you."

"I gave Klaus Rebekah." She finally sighed.

"You what!?" Damon yelled, jumping out of his seat, "No, no, no, tell me you're just fucking with us."

"I'm not, I made a deal Rebekah for Jeremy."

I groaned loudly, "You daggered her, the first place she's coming after she wakes up is here, to kill you."

"No she's not Klaus won't let her."

"And you suddenly trust him?" Damon asked.

"No, but, I can exactly trust Stefan right now so I don't really have much of a choice. Did you guys find anything out about the coffins?"

I looked at Damon who almost looked a little guilty, "My brother is running his own show right now."

"And you really don't know anything?" Elena looked at me.

"Only what I've pieced together myself but it's not really helpful." Not totally a lie.

"Well, then I think I know what to do about Jeremy. I made a phone call on the way home, mom and dad had some friends in Denver, I asked them to take Jeremy."

"He's never going to go willingly."

"No, but," Elena looked over at Damon, getting the message he nodded his head.

"No, I'll do it." I took a deep breath, "My compulsion will be stronger anyway."

* * *

The door swung open and Jeremy threw my keys on the table before he walked upstairs, Ric walked into the kitchen as we finished up exactly what I would say to Jeremy.

"What did I miss?" Ric said.

"Jeremy is going to Denver, he deserves a normal life," Elena said simply.

Ric nodded, apparently needing nothing else from this conversation, Elena and I headed upstairs. 

"Jer?" I said quietly as Elena knocked on the door frame.

He spun around in his desk chair and looked at me, "Look I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

I laughed quietly before walking in and sitting on the bed, "If anyone knows a thing or two about losing control _emotionally_ , it's me. And I'm fine, no apologies needed." Running my hands over my legs a few times before looking up, "Jeremy," he locked eyes with me, "You are going to get out of here, some family friends in Denver are going to take you in. You'll go to a new school, actually study, meet _living_ girls, get into a little bit of _normal_ trouble and have a life, far away from here." I swallowed.

"Tell him not to think twice about Mystic Falls," Ric said from behind me.

"You're going to leave and you won't think twice about Mystic Falls." I closed my eyes and got up, pushing past Elena. 

Thankfully Jeremy had parked my car on the street, I got in with the intention of leaving. Compelling Jeremy broke something in me, I was a big part of the reason he wasn't safe here. I kept wiping tears off of my cheeks as fast as they were falling, unable to stop them.

I barely heard the truck door open, Damon pulled me to him, running his hand up and down my back, "I came out here to yell at you for trying to ditch me but I feel like now it would just be in poor taste."

I pulled out of the awkward hold he had on me and wiped my face again, "I just didn't need him to see me all sappy." 

"It's for the best."

"I know." I sniffled, drying my face again, "You wanted to talk?"

"Here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed, "Get in."

Damon walked around to the passenger side and I started the car and pulled away from the curb.

Pulling into the driveway of my temporary house Damon let out a whistle, "Well it, no boarding house but it's pretty fancy."

"I've become accustomed to a certain standard of living," I smirked, pulling into the garage.

"Well, at least I get why I couldn't find you."

"I'm nothing if not thorough." Just to prove a point I got out of the car and walked to the back door stepping inside. I smiled a little when Damon got stuck on the stairs, "Really?" He asked, irritated.

"I forgot," I laughed, walking back out and kicking a rock off of the porch, Damon quickly moved into the house.

"Just for me?" He asked, leaning on the counter.

"Any vampire that's not me, it's a variation of the magic used to keep uninvited vampires out of human homes. One of the things I've been working on to keep myself… _occupied."_

"Occupied? You can't just not feed Pidge." He stood up straight, seemingly worried.

I walked to the fridge and showed off my blood bag collection, "I'm feeding fine. I can take care of myself, Damon. Forever 17 doesn't mean forever useless." I closed the fridge and walked over and leaned on the Island, "Amazingly, I do pay attention when you try to teach me things."

"I can see that." He looked around, taking in the house I'd picked for myself before messing with part of the counter, "Foreclosures were always my favorite because the nice ones came furnished."

"And the electricity is on, that's definitely a plus, the bed kinda sucks." 

"Yeah, showroom furniture isn't really known for comfort." He looked up from the tile he'd been picking at, "Come home."

"Is that your big talk? Come home?"

"I mean what do you want from me? You said yourself you were tired of being pissed off at me."

"So you were eavesdropping," I smirked.

"Obviously. Look I didn't understand why you and Stefan went rouge, I mean I did but I think I was just pissed and needed someone to blame. Then you left and I wasn't going to be the creepy old guy hanging around the high school."

"It wouldn't have mattered, I'm pretty stealthy when I want to be." 

"Please come home."

I sighed, "Help me get all my stuff?"

  
  


**I hope you guys enjoyed it, please leave a review and let me know.**

  
  
  
  



	11. The Magical Shit Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only own my OC
> 
> I'm sorry this story took a bit of a hiatus I had some SEVERE writers block when it came to Dlexis I'm sorry. Please accept this spicy lemon. Hope you like it let me know in the comments.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr @megand2017

As Damon turned to walk towards the front of the house, I jumped up sitting on the marble counter, "Or," I paused biting my lip, "We could sully the house up a little, you know make up sex in a strange place."

Damon swiveled back around, an eyebrow up, looking from the fridge and back to me, "What else is in that fridge?"

Confused, I tilted my head, "Just the blood bags."

"As much fun as that sounds, I have a much better vision for kitchen sex. Get your stuff," he walked out of the room leaving me to pout for a moment.

Damon pulled my truck out of the garage, while I locked everything up.

Because I'd brought so little with me it took no time to load my stuff into the back of my truck.

As soon as the latch clicked, Damon caged me in with his arms, my back pressed against his chest. He leaned his head down whispering against the shell of my ear, "I have a surprise for you."

Suppressing a shiver, I tried to turn around but his hands moved from the glass and down to my hips rooting me to the spot.

He nipped at my ear before trailing kisses down my neck, I groaned in response before stuttering out, "I - to- told you to quit buy-" protest quickly turned to a hum of pleasure.

Damon's blunt teeth found my pulse point biting down before sucking hard, my mind went blank and my knees buckled.

His hands quickly moved from my hips, wrapping one arm around my waist, holding me upright, essentially pulling me closer to him. There was no question he was having as much fun as I was.

Damon's mouth left my neck with a small pop, his free hand popped the button on my shorts. His index finger swiping over my clit, as his tongue slid back up my neck, "Better keep quiet," he whispered when he reached my ear, "Don't want the neighbors to hear.

I froze momentarily, I'd forgotten we were outside but hastily decided I didn't care, biting down on my lip.

He moved his hand down a little further curling one finger into my pussy, "Would you like me to stop?" He asked before pushing in a second finger.

_ Where the hell is this coming from? _ I thought, still trying to keep my moans in check.

The grip around my waist, loosened as Damon's free hand made its way under my shirt, "I could guess your answer based on this," he moved his fingers faster.

I couldn't speak, if I opened my mouth right now the neighbors would think someone was dying.

"I need verbal confirmation Pidge," he all but growled as his hand cupped my breast over my bra, pinching a nipple through the fabric.

" _ Don't stop _ ," I panted, I was right there teetering on the edge of bliss and he knew it, " _ please,"  _ I begged.

Damon's mouth attacked my neck as his fingers moved faster, his palm providing glorious friction against my clit.

White flashed across my vision as Damon sunk his teeth into my skin. His fingers kept up their vigorous pace as my walls clenched around them. 

My knees gave out again, Damon quickly caught me, spinning me around, pressing me against his chest.

Catching my breath, I inhaled deeply and enjoyed the scent of leather, bourbon, and cedar, "I'm sorry," I mumbled quietly.

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to be apologizing," his arms tightened around me, he pressed his lips to the top of my head.

"That wasn't an apology?" A laughed, pulling away and locking on to his dazzling blue eyes.

He laughed and made his way to the passenger door holding it open, "Oh no, that was just me testing a theory," he waved his hand for me to get in.

I was about to protest but noticed my legs still felt a bit wobbly and decided it was probably not the worst idea.

Damon got into the truck, still smiling smugly putting the keys on the ignition.

"What theory?" I asked when we were almost home, "If you get me riled up enough I won't say no?"

He laughed, "No, I've been  _ blissfully _ aware of that fact since Georgia," he winked as he pulled out onto the road.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm pretty sure  _ I started that,  _ and it also doesn't answer my question, smartass."

"You remember that little bet we had?"

"Yes, and I believe you still have two unused guesses. Unless that was one." I raised my eyebrow questionly.

"I'd like to lie and say it wasn't," his smile grew a little.

"I'll give you partial credit, there was a slight bit of begging in that dream. You don't look too disappointed about being wrong."

"Oh I'm not, for one I enjoy driving you crazy and it gives me a lot of hope for my last guess." 

"Well?"

Damon chuckled as he pulled into the driveway, "Oh no, the anticipation will make it all the better."

With one last smile, he was out of the truck, I pulled on the handle stepping out. "So this surprise?" I trailed off getting to the door.

"Oh you're going to love it," he beamed, opening the door.

"I told you to quit buying me things," I protested.

"Well, as we all know I'm  _ terrible _ at following instructions.

The door swung open and I walked inside, "You're an idiot."

One step in and my back was pressed against the wall, Damon's arms on either side of my head, a mischievous grin on his face.

I smirked back, "Am I supposed to be scared?"

Damon opened his mouth but was cut off by someone coughing in the parlor.

We both turned our heads to find the source, Bonnie and Stefan were standing in the archway looking disgusted.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bonnie said as she crossed her arms, "You guys are like rabbits, you know that?"

I pushed against Damon, "Get off me."

He pouted but bounced off the wall crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the two, "What are you two even doing here?"

Stefan cleared his throat, "Bonnie stopped by the witch house today and now she's got questions."

I walked the two and down into the parlor, "Questions I'm sure you already have answers to," I said getting comfortable on one of the couches."

"I've been having dreams," Bonnie replied walking over to the opposite couch, "Someone on the other side wanted me to find them."

"Them?" 

"I could see the coffins."

This took me by surprise, why? "What else happens in these dreams?"

"All of them disappear shortly after I walk into the room, except for one," she tucked her hair behind her ear staring at me intently.

"It's the big one isn't it?" I groaned.

"Have you opened it?"

"No, I haven't tried to open any of them, I'm dead, not deranged."

Damon stepped down into the parlor with a chuckle, "That's debatable."

"Kettle," I snapped back, earning nothing more than an amused grin. Looking back at Bonnie, I asked, "So what exactly do you need me to do?"

"Help me try and open it, Stefan said brute force isn't an option so it must be magically sealed, between my books and yours maybe we can find something."

"Right now?" I tried and failed not to whine thinking about the giant bathtub waiting for me upstairs.

"Judging by your tone and what you two were going to do right by the front door… No tomorrow morning is fine."

I jumped off the couch, clapping my hands together, "Perfect," I faced Damon, "I believe you promised me a present?" I smirked.

"That I did Pidge," he waved for me to follow him out of the room and up the stairs.

In the hall, I veered towards his bedroom but Damon put his hands on my hips and steered me towards the door on the opposite side of the hall.

He grabbed the handle before I could, "You know how this works, close your eyes."

I gave him an annoyed look before doing just that. The handle turned and I heard the door swing open. Damon's hand lightly pushed on the small of my back ushering me inside.

The room wasn't quite as big as his but the huge windows covered with sheer blue curtains more than made up for it, especially when I noticed the comfortable-looking couch tucked beneath them.

The bookshelves were full, minus a small section. Well known historical and folklore titles jumping out at me. One section devoted entirely to things Isobel once owned. He'd even left an empty set of shelves for the books I had with me.

There was a huge desk with an uncomfortable-looking chair, I laughed a little, he knew I'd never  _ willingly _ used a desk.

The bed opposite the desk is what made me stop, the gears in my brain shifting from excited to nervous at vampire speed, "Are you kicking me out of your room?" I blurted out.

Damon just laughed leaning on the door frame.

"That's not helping," I snapped, walking over to what I assumed was the closet, opening the door I felt a small bit of relief seeing no clothing inside.

Damon crossed the space between us in three steps. Putting his hands on my shoulder, he gently directed me back towards the bookshelf where a lone picture sat.

"I'd ask how you got this," I started, reaching out and picking the photo up, "But I think I know exactly when Caroline sent it to herself."

"I've spent the better part of this week setting up your own personal hideaway," Damon explained.

I turned around facing him but still focused on the photo. It was taken barely a year ago but it felt like much longer, Damon asleep behind me and me smiling like I'd won the lottery.

Damon lifted my chin, "You have a terrible habit of running away when you're angry."

I bit my lip before saying, "We all have our faults."

He let out a chuckle, "I figured maybe if you had somewhere close by to run, use your juju to lock everyone out and just hide away here." He paused, "I don't like not knowing where you are,  _ regardless _ of the fact you're indestructible."

"You are the cheesiest person I've ever met, vampire or otherwise," I laughed, quickly setting the picture back on the shelf.

Spinning back around I launched myself at Damon, who expertly caught me. I linked my fingers behind his neck and pressed my lips to his.

"So you like it?" He mumbled against my mouth.

I pulled away slightly, "Why don't you take me across the hall and I can show you just how grateful I am."

I managed to shimmy out of his grip and turned on my heel, stepping towards the door but before I could reach it Damon sped forward, slamming it shut.

In another blurry he was behind me, lips brushing up my neck. The fingers of one hand gripped my hip tightly.

"You know," I murmured, leaning my head to the side, "I'd say someone was feeling a bit predatory but I noticed  _ both _ the books Caroline's gave me on the shelf."

I smirked as Damon's mouth planted kisses up my neck. It quickly turned to a shudder as he spoke into the shell of my ear, "Figured it was better than under the mattress."

His free hand slipped under my shirt as his fingers skimmed over my stomach, I managed to choke out, "Did you read them?"

"Only the highlighted parts," he nipped my ear as his fingers pinched a nipple through my bra.

"All Caroline," I replied breathlessly.

He chuckled behind me, in a flash I was spun around and my back pressed against the door.

"Mmhmm," he replied as his blue eyes raked over me, pupils blown. Damon's thigh found its way between my legs.

One hand tangled onto my hair, pulling my head back, the other squeezed the sides of my neck.

All rational thought and sarcastic remarks were lost as my hips rolled and I whimpered.

Damon's hands tightened and a rush of wetness went straight to my panties.

He pressed a quick kiss to my lips, "Liar," he smirked, moving his hands.

My disappointment only lasted a second as his fingers moved to the hem of my shirt roughly pulling it over my head.

He attached his mouth to my neck, hungrily kissing down. Pushing my bra over my tits, his thumb rolled my nipples. I let out something between a squeak and a moan as he pinched them.

My fingers threaded through his hair, still grinding against his thigh.

He snapped the front of my bra and pushed the straps off my shoulders.

  
  


I was panting as his mouth reached my chest. He slid his hands down over my ribs landing on my hips, encouraging the little movements I was already making.

"Damon!" I moaned out loudly as his teeth tugged at my nipple.

"Yes?" He looked up through his lashes, he didn't wait for an answer kissing his way over to the other side, nipping at that one as well.

I pushed harder against his thigh, so close to bliss.

Damon pulled away, moving his leg, he pulled at my shorts, taking my all but useless panties with them.

  
  


He threw them to the side as he stood up, a dirty little grin on his face as he surveyed the mess  _ he'd  _ created.

I tried to catch my breath, part of me wanted to jump on him, the other wanted to see what game he was playing.

"You seem to be a  _ little  _ overdressed," I tried my best to keep my voice steady. I tried to step forward but he was quicker.

I was pushed back against the door one leg hitched over Damon's shoulder. He pressed open mouth kissed on the inside of my leg. 

  
  


"I seemed to recall something about begging earlier?" He asked in a low voice before biting into my thigh with his blunt teeth.

Damon's fingers traced over my hip, a straggled, " _ Fuck,"  _ tumbled from my lips.

"I'm sorry what was that?" 

I could feel him smirk against my skin, his fingers running  _ too _ softly against my slit.

" _ Please _ ," I finally gasped.

He was having far too much fun, which became evident to even my frazzled mind. 

My fingers tangled in his hair.

"Please what?"

"I don't know!" My hand tightened in his hair, "Touch me, fuck me-"

My moaned pleas were cut off as Damon spread my lips, his mouth latching on to my clit.

My hips rose from the door as he expertly pushed two fingers into my core, rubbing up against all the right places. 

Damon's fingers moved faster, his tongue flicking at the sensitive bundle of nerves.

I knew what he wanted but I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, I managed to moan out his name.

"Cum," he growled before sucking my clit back into his mouth.

The tightly wound coil inside me snapped, pleasure bursting from every nerve.

As my high faded Damon scooped me up, dropping me roughly on the bed.

He leaned in kissing me hungrily, a clash of tongues and teeth.

I pulled at his belt, my fingers fumbling with the buckle.

He chuckled pulling away and whipping it off himself, stepping out of his jeans and kicking them to the side.

Damon licked his lips and reached out, grabbing my legs and pulling me to the edge of the bed.

Rubbing his dick through my slick folds only once before thrusting into me,  _ hard _ .

" _ Fuck _ , I missed this," he hissed 

He set a quick pace, which I happily spurred on as I dug my heels into his ass.

I saw his muscles start to tense and he gripped my hips tightly. I reached for one of them, guiding it up to my neck.

He took one look into my eyes and did exactly what I was silently asking.

Damon's fingers squeezed just the right spots on the sides. My eyes rolled back, my hips arched, Damon pounded into me harder.

My pussy clamped around him as his grip loosened, sending me to a whole new level of satisfaction.

"Fuck Alexis," he groaned as he spilled inside of me.

He fell forward breathing heavily, nuzzling his face in my neck for a moment.

I pouted a bit when he finally stood up, walking to the bathroom hadn't noticed earlier and coming back with a wet towel.

"So  _ Caroline  _ highlighted all that stuff did she?" As he helped clean me up.

"Hmm?" I hummed, still feeling dizzy.

"You still with me Pidge?" He asked, running his hand through my hair.

"I'm not even sure I know where  _ here,  _ is right now."

He chuckled, pulling me up, wrapping his shirt around me, and carrying me across the hall.

**Damon's POV**

Reaching over I felt a cold spot in the mattress,  _ of course, she's already awake. _

Walking across the hall I peeked inside, she'd definitely been in here judging by the mess of books and papers thrown around.

The library was in a similar state.  _ What was she looking for and how long had she been awake? _

A loud crash coming from the other side of the house told me exactly where Alexis was.

"Sorry," she looked up as I walked into the kitchen, pointing to a pan in the sink, "It slipped."

"What are you even doing?" I asked, surveying  _ another _ mess, "Did you sleep?"

"It's Caroline's birthday," she replied as if that was supposed to explain everything.

I raised my eyebrow, looking around the room again, spotting cupcakes on the counter.

"Did you sleep?" I repeated.

She stopped mid-step, "A couple of hours." Alexis finished making her way to the coffee pot, pouring two cups.

She held one out to me, "I'm having weird dreams." 

"What kind of  _ weird dreams?"  _

"I'm still not sure, flashes of random events." She ran her hand over her face frustrated, "Cate had them too, and either she never figured out how to stop them or it's not in the books I have." 

Alexis looked defeated having spent her whole morning looking for answers and coming up empty, "I'm assuming you tried to call her."

"Yep, the number is out of service. I hope Klaus didn't find her…" I watched her eyes go wide, "Klaus…" she whispered, "Maybe he'd know -"

"Absolutely not," I snapped loudly, watching as she jumped, she hadn't been expecting me to yell.

I took a breath, setting my mug down, "You're directly involved in the game of keep away Stefan has going on. What's to stop him from daggering you and holding you as collateral."

"He owes me a favor," she shrugged, "and unless he's pulling the dagger out of Rebekah he doesn't have one. I hid it."

"We can figure something else out. Klaus is already too involved in our lives." I crossed my arms.

She let out a huff, "In case you missed it, I've been through everything I have." She stopped, draining her cup and setting it in the sink.

I could see the wheels in her head-turning, she didn't want to argue about this any more than I did.

"I'll talk to Bonnie," she smiled weakly and started out of the kitchen, kissing me on the cheek before leaving.

**Alexis's POV**

I spent the ride to the witch house buried in one of Cate's journals looking for anything I'd missed relating to her odd dreams.

Unfortunately, the only times they were mentioned was when she was in ripper, crazy mode and made absolutely no sense.

Bonnie and Stefan were already waiting on us, Damon dropped my books next to Bonnie's and stepped back towards the door.

"I didn't find anything helpful," I said, pointing to the stack, "but a fresh pair of eyes might turn something up. I've been a bit… distracted."

Bonnie coked an eyebrow and shook her head, "I have a few things we can try."

Damon cleared his throat, "I've got some extra blood bags in the car. Stefan and I are going to walk around, make sure we're alone. I'll bring them in when we get back "

I gave him a nod and a thankful smile before looking at Bonnie, "Ready when you are."

* * *

It wasn't long before we'd exhausted almost all of Bonnie's spells. Each one seemed to zap an obnoxious amount of energy from both of us.

She slammed her book on the coffin, "Why won't you open!"

"Maybe it's a sign," I shrugged. 

A creak from the floorboards above us caused both of us to freeze. I pressed a finger to my lips and stepped silently towards the door, looking back at Bonnie I noticed the coffins were gone. Someone was here.

I heard the footsteps retreat from the house and out onto the front porch. I stepped onto the first stair but Damon flashed in front of me. Silently asking me to stay put before rushing back outside.

I heard the familiar crunch of someone losing a heart and the smell of blood wafted through the house.

Damon was back, his eyes flicked over me, "You okay?"

"Yeah," I replied quietly.

I walked back into the room Bonnie was back to flipping through books. My knees buckled out from under me, "Hey, easy."

I felt sick, my body ached, "I need a-"

The dark basement faded away to nothing.

* * *

" _ This isn't our fight." _

I could hear Tia but everything around me was completely black, " _ Opening that box will have dire consequences… for everyone. _

I wasn't in control as I was thrown back to consciousness. My fangs bared, eyes red as I lunged towards Bonnie.

Damon had been quick to react, wrapping his arms around my waist and flashing us outside.

He spun me around one arm still holding me in place while his free hand gripped my jaw forcing me to focus on him, "Stop, breath, relax."

My face returned to normal and I collapsed against him, "I don't know what happened."

His hand ran up and down my back as I gripped his shirt.

"I can't help with this," I mumbled after a few minutes, pulling my head back I looked up at him, "I ca-"

I spotted Stefan step out onto the porch, Bonnie slowly stepped out behind him, I could hear her heartbeat as soon as she'd crossed the threshold.

I broke out of Damon's arm and flashed towards the porch. Stefan pushed Bonnie inside stepping in front of the door. I didn't even teach him before an invisible force threw me back into the yard, the door slamming shut behind Stefan.

I slid a foot across the wet ground on my ass. As I tried to scramble to my feet Stefan blurred off the porch tackling me to the ground, "What did you just do!"

Damon pulled him back giving me time to breathe.

"It should just be me," I said quietly, sitting up.

Stefan glared down at me before turning away and walking back up to the house he slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

Damon scooped me up and for once I didn't fight, "I'm  _ so  _ hungry, Damon."

"I know we're going to fix it," he said quietly, kissing the top of my head.

Once I was in the car Damon pulled a bag out of the back seat handing me two blood bags. Drinking the first one in record time, I already  _ physically _ felt better.

Damon's hand squeezed my leg, "I'm going to get your stuff. Stay in the car.

I nodded, pulling the top off the second bag and leaning my seat back.

Damon didn't take long, popping the trunk and dropping my books in. He opened the door and looked down into the floorboards.

He dug around in the bag pulling out another pint of O+.

I held up my hand and shook my head.

"A starving vampire can drain a whole person. One more and I'll leave you alone."

I snatched the bag out of his hand and nursed it the entire ride home. 

Damon didn't follow me upstairs, which I was sort of thankful for. I walked into my room.

Walking over to the bed laying down and closing my eyes, exhausted I fell into an uneasy sleep.

_ I stood high on steel beams watching Klaus walk across the concrete floor, "Game Over little witch," he called out, "I let you run your little no humanity rampage for over a month now, cleaning up your messes." _

_ I jumped down landing behind him with nothing more than the soft click of my heels hitting the pavement.  _

_ I smirked as he spun around, "No one asked you to clean up after me." _

_ "Right as usual, but ponder for just a moment," he closed the space between us, "if the tourists are too scared to visit then who exactly would you eat?" _

_ "Don't pretend you're doing it for my sake, we're still not friends," I huffed, standing as tall as I could, "You need a witch." _

I shot up in bed, someone was knocking on the door. 

"Come in," I called out, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed holding my head in my hands.  _ I need this to stop. _

I looked up at the sound of the door opening, I expected to see Damon but instead, Caroline looked over at me with sad blue eyes.

"Hey," I tilted my head, "Why aren't you at school?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied.

Sitting in the crook of her elbow she had a bag from the gas station and was carrying the tray of cupcakes I'd made earlier.

"Damon said they were mine and since we can't get fat I figured we could eat them all," she smiled, walking in and closing the door behind her.

"He called you?" I asked as she sat on the bed.

"No, I called  _ you _ , like a dozen times. I guess he got irritated and finally answered it." Caroline fiddled with the cupcakes noticing two with different wrappers. "Trying to poison me on my birthday?"

"No, but those two _are_ _specifically_ for you."

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"Because I tried something new, it's a treat only a vampire could appreciate," I gave her a huge smile, "It's good I swear."

She picked both up and held one out to me.

"What don't believe me?" I laughed, taking the cupcake.

"Not even a little," she smirked, breaking the cupcake in half, prepared to make a little frosting sandwich. I did the same.

She giggled at the sight in the middle, "Is that like a little blood frosting bomb?"

"It is, I got the idea when we were joking about the blood and ice cream. I just substituted milk with blood."

She took a bite, letting out a little hum. She put her hand in front of her mouth, "I'm a little disturbed at how good that is."

"Right," I chuckled before eating my own.

After a couple more cupcakes and breaking into the cheap chips and cheese dip, Caroline finally spoke up, "Are you okay?"

"No," I replied with a huge sigh, "But it's your birthday and I'm not going to sour the occasion."

"Katherine soured it enough by killing me, besides you know I love trying to fix impossible problems. Consider it your present to me." She beamed up at me.

"The cupcakes were your present," I deadpanned.

"Well they are almost gone and I won't quit nagging you until you talk to me."

I stood up off the bed, "What's to talk about Care? I could have killed Bonnie today, I had no control over myself."

"Damon said you haven't been sleeping," she replied quietly trying to calm me down.

"I don't think the two are related, I'm not sleeping because I'm having nightmares. I went crazy on Bonnie because those bitches on the other side don't want me helping her."

"Helping her?"

"I can't… if Damon didn't tell you then I can't."

"He just said you were helping Bonnie and then went, full angry vampire."

"That's the short version." 

Caroline hung out most of the day, trying to keep it as light as possible since both of us weren't in the best place.

She left about the time school let out, slightly worried about facing her mom after ditching.

I walked Caroline out and wandered into the kitchen grabbing a blood bag and taking a sip before I noticed how quiet the house was. 

I froze listening,  _ empty _ . I walked through checking all the frequently used places. Finally stopping in Damon's room, a note and my phone sat on the bed.

_ Had to have a talk with Stefan, and then, unfortunately, a council meeting. Stay put, please. _

"Sorry sweetie," I said out loud.

* * *

Klaus's mansion being under construction had been a blessing, our super-powered senses wouldn't be ok with the strong paint fumes.

I snuck in through an open window and quietly made my way downstairs.

"Awful brave of you to come here little witch." Klaus rounded the corner smiling, a glass of bourbon in his hand.

"I'm leaning more towards stupid and short-sighted but sure we can go with brave." 

"Well now I'm very curious," he leaned on the wall swirling the amber liquid around in his glass. 

I didn't like the smug way he was looking at me, it almost made my skin crawl, "You know what, never mind." I stepped off the stairs and moved towards what I assumed was the exit.

"I'm guessing by your tired appearance, the dreams have started." 

I stopped walking and turned back to face him biting my lip, "I need them to stop."

"And why would you think I'd know how to help? Or better yet  _ want  _ to help?"

"I killed your father, I think that entitles me to a few answered questions," I sneered, watching as he was about to argue, "I know you had already promised Stefan his freedom for a completely different task  _ before _ I asked. You owe me  _ this _ Klaus."

Klaus sighed heavily before gesturing for me to follow him back up the stairs.

"It's cruel don't you think?" He asked, "Elementals forget everything until you turn and then, plagued with nightmares of a future you can't change."

I didn't say anything as we continued up to the attic. Klaus moved some boxes around before pulling out an ancient-looking wooden box, covered in carvings.

"Cate never found a way to make them stop, I however came across another who did, with the help of this," he pulled out a necklace with a long, thin golden chain at the bottom sat a purple rock the chain seemed to be drilled through it.

"Purple Fluorite, apparently it helps calm a chaotic mind. I can only assume one that's been tampered with as much as yours would be in a bit of chaos."

He held out the necklace and I slowly reached for it, pausing just before my fingers wrapped around the chain, "Is this a trap?"

"You have my word, no harm will come to you or anyone else by means of this necklace."

I took the jewelry looping it around my neck and tucking it under my shirt, "So we're even now."

"Alexis, you and I are damned to this earth longer than most others, I feel like we will be trading favors for quite a while."

"Let's hope not," I said quietly, the pit in my stomach growing as I headed back downstairs and out of the house.

I flashed into the woods heading towards town. I wanted to ask for forgiveness now rather than have Damon hear from a second-hand source that I'd gone to Klaus.

Walking into Founder's Hall I froze realizing what tonight's cover was for the meeting.

_ Help rebuild Wickery Bridge! _

I shook my head and continued my way inside, grabbing a drink from a server. Tilting it back I made a face as I set the glass down,  _ Who orders straight rum. _

I stepped into the main room and looked around. Hands settled on my hips and I immediately recognized who was behind me.

"I thought I told you to stay put." He spun me around, his crystal blue eyes scanning over me, "You look… better."

"I feel fine," I bit my lip as the chain around my neck felt ten times heavier, "I went to see Klaus."

I watched as several emotions flashed quickly across his face but was surprised when he landed on one that looked like guilt. "We'll talk about it later."

"I gotta write a check and then we can go," he kissed me on the forehead and turned to walk away. 

I quickly reached out grabbing his hand, "Wait."

He turned around raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm in a bit of a cling wrap mood-" my explanation was cut off as Damon tugged on my hand leading me down the hall.

"You're not mad?" I asked as we moved the building.

"I'm not thrilled," he sighed.

"Ah, Damon," Mayor Lockwood cheerfully called out smiling.

"Carol," Damon nodded.

"Are you going to be our other big benefactor tonight? Klaus has made a rather generous donation and you know we're just chomping at the bit to start the renovations."

Damon crossed his arms, glaring at Klaus, "You know you're sucking up to an immortal hybrid, the same one if I'm not mistaken that ruined your son's life."

Klaus merely smiled, "Some would say I improved it, what with not having to deal with all that nasty full moon business. I only had to go through it twice myself but I'm very sympathetic."

"Damon," Carol interjected, "Klaus has offered to help Tyler and help protect the town."

Damon's face screwed up in anger, "Him and his hybrids are the ones this town needs protecting from!" He hissed.

"Well since you can't seem to get your brother to get me what I want, I've made a deal, the town council stays out of my business, my hybrids and I protect the town and everybody's happy. Unless of course, your brother decides to keep beheading my friends."

Mayor Lockwood was playing a dangerous game but she showed no fear when she turned to Damon, "You need to get your brother under control before the council needs to step in."

Klaus smirked, "It was nice talking with you Damon," he nodded his head and looked at me, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon, figured you'd be off having a nap." His eyes cut back to Damon.

"Don't be a dick!" I snapped back.

I pulled on Damon's arm and he reluctantly walked away from the group. 

"I'm sorry," I said quietly once we'd gotten to the parking lot. I stopped walking and pulled at my hair, "I just…" 

Damon turned around and stepped towards me, "Stop," he said calmly. He gently grabbed my wrists bringing my hands down to my sides before interlacing our fingers.

I tilted my heat up and locked eyes with him and unfortunately the word vomit began, "I don't want to see  _ whatever _ it is I'm seeing. Klaus pretty much confirmed what I think, I already knew."

"These aren't dreams are they?"

I looked past him as a car pulled into the lot, "I think… something happens to you. I don't know what or when but after," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "Damon I'm fucking ruthless." 

I pulled my hands free but only so I could wrap my arms around him, "When I tell you not to get in the car,  _ please _ don't get in the fucking car."

One of his arms settled around my waist, his free hand ran up my back, "You're scared?" He mumbled.

"I'm terrified."

He suddenly froze, "What the hell is Stefan doing here?"

I pulled away from him spinning around, "Go, take care of whatever that is, I'll meet you back at the house."

He gave me one last look before rushing back inside.

I started the long walk back to the boarding house, thankful for the quiet.

* * *

Unfortunately about halfway home I got a phone call and rushed back into town.

Running up the two steps and into the yellow hallway, "What happened?"

Matt was leaning against the wall opposite Caroline's room, "Tyler bit her. Her mom's in there with her."

I swallowed past the lump in my throat, "Matt… I can't fix this."

I felt a couple of tears roll down my faces as a million more threatened to explode, "Her mom shouldn't be in there, it's going to get really bad."

There was a knock on the door, Liz stepped out into the hall as I spun around.

She walked to the door and when it opened, a too familiar asshole with a British accent stood smirking on the porch.

"You," I growled.

"Alexis," Liz said in her  _ sheriff's voice _ , "I called him."

She looked back at the original, "You can come in."

He stepped through the door brushing past me on his way down the hall. My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling it out of my pocket I saw Damon's name flashed across the screen.

I walked out on the porch, nervous about the company inside, "Hello," I said still looking through the front door.

" _ Where are you?"  _

"Tyler bit Caroline, Liz called Klaus, so now I'm making sure there's no blood bath."

Damon angrily relayed the game of chicken Stefan decided to play with my sister. "Damon you need to find him before I do because I swear to God I'll kill him."

  
  
  



End file.
